Pioneering Woman Elected as ECOWAS Parliament Speaker

Maimunatu Ibrahima

The ECOWAS parliament chooses its first female speaker

The first female speaker of the parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, Maimunatu Ibrahima, took the oath of office.

Ibrahima, a Togo native, took the oath of office at the parliament's second emergency session in Kano on Thursday.

Togolese parliamentarians nominated her for the position, and she was elected without opposition.

The alphabetical sequence of the member nations is used by the ECOWAS parliament to run a rotating speakership system.

Prior to Ibrahima's accession, Nigeria's deputy senate president, Barau Jubrin, filled the position.

Jubrin was initially elected as the first deputy speaker during the inauguration of the sixth legislature of the ECOWAS parliament last month. However, he had to assume the role of acting speaker to prevent a leadership vacuum when the speaker from Togo was absent from the session.

The country was still in the process of conducting elections to choose its delegates for the parliament, resulting in a temporary absence of representation.

The speaker's position was previously held by a representative from Sierra Leone.

In her acceptance speech, Ibrahima expressed gratitude to the parliamentarians for electing her and pledged to leverage her extensive experience to make a positive impact in the sub-regional parliament.

Ibrahima also expressed her gratitude to the Presidents of Togo and Nigeria, as well as the authorities of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Assembly of Heads of State, for their support and backing of the parliament.