By: Lamin B. Darboe
The Judges of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority in Banjul on Friday 10th November 2023.
The Judges of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria under the auspices of the Juritrust Centre for socio-legal Research and Documentation organized a workshop on Industrial relations for judges of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Banjul, The Gambia from 05-10 November 2023
As part of the visit, the Honorable judges led by Professor Adedeji Adekunle SAN paid a courtesy visit to the Headquarters of ERCA on Friday 10th November 2023 with a view to discuss matters of common interest.
The Ag. Director of Finance and Administration Mr. Koffi Nkuako on behalf of the Executive Director of ERCA welcomed the visitors and expressed the appreciation and gratitude of ERCA for taking time from their busy schedule to pay the visit. He introduced the members of ERCA team including the Executive Director who later joined the meeting via video conference before inviting the HR officer Mr. IbrimaTambajang to make a presentation on the activities of ERCA.
Mr. Tambajang made a brief power point presentation on the activities of ERCA to the visiting delegates which centered around the trade and Competition situation in ECOWAS, implementation of Competition rules in Members States, status of implementation of the ERCA action plan, legal instruments, The new ECOWAS Competition Information System ,advocacy and awareness raising initiatives of ERCA as well as the communication plan and cooperation agreements ERCA has entered into with various key stakeholders.
The Executive Director after responding to some comments and questions from the delegations, thank the team profoundly for this very important visit. ED implored the visiting delegates to work closely with ERCA in promoting free trade and fighting against cartels and other anti-competitive practices in view of the fact that the judiciary is a key player in competition law enforcement. He laid particular emphasis on new trends on trade using digital markets and that our region should not be left behind as the competition authorities around world device strategies in regulating free and fair trade in this area.
Professor Adekunle, on behalf of the delegation thanked the ED and his team for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded them as well as the opportunity to learn more about the activities of ERCA and enriching their experiences. He urged ERCA to collaborate with the Judges in pursuit of their mandate, considering that the mandate cut across many sectors including infringement of laws in the delivery of goods and services and labor related matters.