At the end of a two-Day Workshop on the subject matter which held at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja on the 2^nd of November 2016, the road infrastructure and legal experts also successfully reviewed the work plan of the project, paving the way for the commencement of advanced site inspections.

During the workshop, there was an overview of the services on the proposed corridor including the set objectives, status, challenges as well as guidance issues involved in the project which is considered a top priority by the ECOWAS Commission President His Excellency Marcel de Souza.

Participants discussed the revised work plan of the Advisory Services for the project while consultants provided a broad view of the programme, its completed aspects as well as the modalities of the proposed site visits to be conducted.

The countries-site visits by the institutional and legal experts which are to kick off after the Workshop,    are meant to gather initial information and provide perspectives on the Management Authority as established in the treaty of the project.

In addition, there are to be photographic trips (including site investigations trips) involving filming of the corridor to gather images and interviews for the production of the communication tools for the project.

The Workshop featured presentations on the objectives, functions, and institutional design of the Management Authority as well as discussions of National Working Groups. Added to this were disclosures on the guiding principles for the management authority, pending issues as well as potential legal framework structure.

An important section of the Workshop was dedicated to the Communication strategy containing key messages, ways to give the product a visual identity as well as plans for the filming and photographic Mission.

Apart from throwing up capacity building activities, countries were urged to begin to locate the corridor within their respective domains, activate or institute national facilitation committees while appointing focal ministries in their countries.

Bringing the Workshop to a close, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure Dr. Antoinette Weeks thanked the experts from Member States for their Commitment towards the implementation of the Highway Programme. She urged them to continue to work with the ECOWAS Commission and make themselves available to the Consultants for the Country Visits planned from the 4^th to 17^th November, 2016.

The chairman of session Dr. Francis Omotayo Oni thanked participants for their active contributions and also requested for their continued support to the consultants for the country level consultations.

The Workshop participants were made up of representatives of the Director of Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commission, Infrastructure/Work and Legal Experts from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo., representatives of Development Partners as well as Directors & Officials from the Department of Trade, Customs, Free Movement, Peace and Security, Communication, Legal and Infrastructure.