We got communications this morning, today actually that Hon. Benjamin from Nigeria has been assigned to be the chairman of this committee to complete the term up to June
Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has been appointed as the Chairman of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs of the Pan African Parliament (PAP).
The PAP is the legislative arm of the African Union (AU) with 55 members States which represent all the countries on the African continent.
Kalu takes over from Hon. Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak from Ghana, who has been nominated as a minister in the new government of Ghana.
The Deputy Speaker’s appointment was announced by the Acting Chair of the Committee, Hon. Senator Tony Sibandze from Eswatini who has been presiding over the Committee meetings at the ongoing gathering of PAP members in Midrand, South Africa.
“We got communications this morning, today actually that Hon. Benjamin from Nigeria has been assigned to be the chairman of this committee to complete the term up to June”, Senator Sibandze said.
The West African Caucus had unanimously agreed to nominate and submit Kalu’s name as the new Chairman of the Finance Committee during their meeting in Johannesburg.
The decision of the West African Caucus was ratified on Tuesday, necessitating the announcement at the meeting of the Committee.
The meeting also ratified the nomination of Hon. Senator Christine Mwando Katempa from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), made by the Central African Caucus, as the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee.
Notably, Kalu who attended the PAP meetings in South Africa is also the Chairman of the Finance and Administrative Committee of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS ) Parliament as well as a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
He was also recently appointed a member of the Steering Committee of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by IPU at the just concluded high profile meetings of the Union held in New York, United States of Africa.