ERCA boss assures experts of conducive environment as review session holds in Dakar

The Executive Director of ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority, (ERCA), Dr. Simeon Koffi, has assured experts of a conducive environment to enable them to bring out the best for a successful ERCA communication activities review.

A statement issued in Abuja by the ERCA media team, Friday, quoted Koffi speaking while declaring the review of ERCA’s communication plan in Dakar, Senegal open.

The 3-day workshop, he said was aimed at reviewing the ERCA’s communication plan drafted by a consultant, noting that the review is only aimed at increasing the visibility of ERCA’s programmes and activities, and as such critical work needed to be done on the draft by the communication experts which were harnessed from different countries.

Koff, however, appreciated the President of the ECOWAS Commission’s President, Dr. Omar Allieu Touray, and the hierarchy of the commission for the opportunity to serve in such a capacity.

Speaking of ERCA’s activities, Koffi said: “In 2008, ECOWAS adopted a Regional Competition Policy and in the same vein, the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) was established to implement the policy. The objective of this regional initiative was to support and promote open competition within the ECOWAS region, including the protection of consumers’ economic interests, through the implementation of Community Competition Rules.

“The awareness, information, and advocacy activities carried out during the second half of 2021 in eleven (11) Member States revealed a low level of knowledge of the regional competition mechanism and the ERCA among the majority of national stakeholders. Having started its activities in 2019, the relative operational infancy of the ERCA could partly explain the low awareness of its existence and activities. To strengthen dialogue and information sharing between all stakeholders, and to raise awareness of this mechanism for promoting competition within ECOWAS, the ERCA has decided to strengthen its communication activities”

Earlier, communication experts,
Nehemie M’Boke, Executive Director of the Ivorian-based Communication Trader BTP, Technology Agro-business; Emmanuel Daudu, Chief Executive Officer of ZENITH Global Media Services & Consultancy; and ECOWAS Radio News Director, Raymond Kolubah Zarbay in their separate speeches assured Koffi of an amazing outcome.

They said, by the time they are done with the document, ERCA would be the most visible agency of ECOWAS.