Media urged to push ECOWAS integration into higher gear

Ho, March 8, GNA - The chief of a non-

governmental organization has appealed to the media to

galvanise ECOWAS citizens into pushing their governments

towards faster integration of the sub-region. "The new vision, which seeks to move ECOWAS

from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People,

requires the involvement and full participation of civil society

groups and stakeholders, especially the Media," Mr Sam

Dodoo, Executive Director of 93Media Response" said on

Tuesday at a workshop for journalists. The workshop was in collaboration with the ECOWAS

Commission and the European Union. The NGO aims at promoting socio-economic development

through advocacy, communication and social mobilization,

gave the exhortation at a workshop for Journalists in the Volta

region in Ho. Mr Dodoo said the media in Ghana seemed to have

stayed aloof from the regional integration process due perhaps

to lack of information. He said it was for this reason that the ECOWAS

Commission had established an ECOWAS Unit within the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs where journalists could obtain

information. He urged the Media to make ECOWAS Integration

an election issue to push political parties to commit to it. He said individual ECOWAS citizens, institutions

and the business community stood to gain tremendously from

integration which should not be delayed any further. The participants called for the decentralization of the

ECOWAS Unit to the Regions and Districts to be easily

accessible to the media outside Accra.