President John Dramani Mahama has called on African leaders to work harder to speed up integration in West Africa.

Speaking at the 50th Ordinary session of ECOWAS in Abuja on Saturday, President Mahama expressed gratitude to the regional body for its role in the just ended elections in Ghana that saw his defeat.

He said processes are underway to ensure a smooth transition process in Ghana.

“Elections were successfully held in Ghana on 7th of December this year. I wish to thank ECOWAS for its role in the success of our elections. We currently have a joint transition team working to ensure a smooth transition of power. The inauguration of the new President will take place on the 7th of January, 2017 and it is my hope that as many of our colleagues as are able to, will join us to inaugurate President Akufo Addo.

President Mahama also reflected on some of his achievements as President of Ghana and Chairman of the regional body.

He was confident the body will speed up the integration among member countries for shared development and resolve the Gambian crisis with its political will.

“ During my tenure as President we supervised some quite signifuicant investments in our social and economic infrastrture and I also suprientended significant structural reforms in our economy. I remember during my tenure we faced many challenges together. Ebola, the crisis in Burkina Faso, in Mali, peaceful transition of power in Nigeria, Togo and other issues. I have great faith in our sub regional body and I believe that with the political will that we are demonstrating we should be able to speed up the integration process in the ECOWAS sub region for the benefit of our people.''

source:citifmonline