ECOWAS Commission accredits UN Women Country Representative in Nigeria
Date:
(Abuja, 11 September)—UN Women Nigeria Country Representative, Comfort Lamptey, was on 11 September 2017 accredited as UN Women’s Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Ms. Lamptey’s credentials were received by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza, at a brief ceremony at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja. She was accompanied by Njeri Karuru, UN Women Programme Manager for Peace and Security and Aijaz Qureshi, UN Women Country Operations Manager.
During the ceremony, Ms. Lamptey thanked Mr. de Souza for the opportunity to present her credentials to the Commission, which would facilitate an activation of her ECOWAS Liaison function role, alongside her role as Country Representative to Nigeria. She also pledged to do her utmost to deepen cooperation between the two institutions during her tour of duty.
“I would like to recall the important achievements that ECOWAS member states have made to date in advancing women’s rights and gender equality, exemplified in the adoption of the 2015 Gender Statutory Act. I would also like to call for more collaboration between ECOWAS and UN Women on peace and security and migration”, she added.
Mr. de Souza stated that peace and security and migration are of concern to the Commission due to the increased number of West African women who attempt to migrate to Western countries because regional peace and security challenges, and die in the process. Mr. de Souza expressed an interest in collaborating with UN Women in both areas, recognized UN Women’s expertise on gender, and stated that he looks forward to a collaboration between ECOWAS and UN Women to advance gender priorities in the West Africa sub-region.
Ms. Lamptey started her career with the UN over 20 years ago, and has since worked and travelled throughout all the ECOWAS member countries, deepening her contextual understanding of the sub-region. She joined the UN Women Nigeria office in May 2017.