WorldStage Newsonline-- Nigerien President, Issufou Mahamadou has emerged the Chairman of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
He takes over from the host President, Idris Deby.
Mahamadou would hold the position for two year term.
This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the 14th Summit of the Commission held at N’djamena, the Chadian capital.
LCBC comprises countries along the Lake Chad basin -namely Nigeria, Niger Chad, Libya, Cameroon and Central African Republic.
President Goodluck led the Nigerian delegation to the Submit on Monday and had since returned to Abuja.
Jonathan had handed the leadership of the organisation to Deby at the 13th Summit of the Commission in N’djamena on November 1, 2010.
At this year's summit, the issue of cross boarder security was discussed and it was agreed that the Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad be reactivated and its mandate extended to protecting the common borders of the member states.
To this effect, the summit called on Cameroon and all other member states to participate in the joint task force.
The meeting also ratified the appointment of a Nigerian, Mr. Sanusi Abdullahi, as the Executive Secretary of the LCBC. Abdullahi was appointed to complete the tenure of the former Executive Secretary, Dr. Umar Ganduje, which would expire in May 2013.
Ganduje, the incumbent Deputy Governor of Kano State had resigned his appointment as LCBC Executive Secretary to contest the election.
The summit also adopted the LCBC five-year investment plan and enjoined its secretariat to organize a donors’s conference to fund the investment.
Abdullahi had earlier disclosed that the investment plan was put in place to raise fund for a water transfer project from Oubangi Basin to Lake Chad.
The next summit of the LCBC has been fixed for Niamey, the Nigerien capital in 2014.
In his acceptance speech, Mahamadou thanked his colleagues for the trust bestowed on him and assured that he would lead the organization in line with objectives of the organization.
