Abuja, 3rd February, 2020 . In furtherance of the renewed drive to build the capacity of its workforce and strategic manpower development, the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opened a human resource training centre on the 3rd of February 2020 in Abuja, Nigeria.

Speaking shortly after commissioning the Centre, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E Jean-Claude Kassi Brou expressed delight at the coming into being of the training facility given that the strength of any organisation is dependent on the quality of its manpower.

President Brou also expressed his wish for synergy between the Commission and its partners for the development of joint programmes which will ultimately enrich the contents of its manuals and training modules.

He maintained that through the centre, experiences can be shared with experts in Member States who can also benefit from the training that will ensue.

He particularly stressed that it is necessary to engage the centre in such a manner that it becomes pivotal to the dissemination of ideas revolving around the ECOWAS reform agenda while facilitating the occurrence of necessary changes as desired.

President Brou emphasized the need to optimise the use of the concentration of expertise that will emerge from the Centre’s activities in a most beneficial way, contributing immensely in this regard, to the productivity of all staff of ECOWAS.
He strongly recommended the centre’s collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission’s partners, sister international organisations, the academia, civil society and all other human development stakeholders even as the Centre grows to be a reference point of training excellence on the continent.

Earlier, the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Human Resources, Prof. Dias Jeremias Furtado, noted that investment in training is key to institutional advancement because education is a primary factor that determines the human development index of countries and regions

Citing Articles 25 and 26 of the Staff Rules of ECOWAS Institutions on skills development, study and training, Commissioner Furtado stressed the importance of training as an essential tool to prepare all to adapt better to organizational transformations.

According to him, staff training is an investment that will increase skills through Intra-institutional and Inter-institutional training as well as the induction of newly recruited staff and the facilitation of activities such as training of trainers.

“The centralization of training will give staff members the opportunity to acquire the technical skills and competencies necessary to function in their roles within ECOWAS” Commissioner Furtado added.

He noted further that in order to achieve a more harmonized and centralized training, all ECOWAS institutions will have to follow the same process that cuts across many departments and sectors while the Centre will also conduct regular assessments to determine training and organizational development needs.

He disclosed that plans are afoot to set up training Centres of similar hue in Lagos and Lome. A tour of the facilities of the Centre was undertaken by President Brou with explanations given on each section by the ECOWAS Commission’s Director of Human Resources Madam Amelie Kone.

Also on hand for the official opening was the President of the ECOWAS Community Court Mr. Justice Edward Asante, Commissioners as well as the Secretary-General of the Commission.

The establishment of ECOWAS Human Resource Training Centers was one of the recommendations of the 22nd Meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee, held in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2017, which called for the harmonization and centralization of training programs for the staff of ECOWAS Institutions and Agencies.