RECOWA HOLDS PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL MEETING IN JOS

The Presidential Council meeting of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa  (RECOWA) was held in Jos Plateau State, Nigeria, from 8th to 10th November, 2017. RECOWA has Bishop-members from 153 Catholic Dioceses in West Africa. The Presidential Council is held annually to review the administrative activities of RECOWA which has  its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria; it also examines the progress of the regional conference by evaluating its  contribution to the spiritual and pastoral progress of the Catholic Church in the West African region and its  intervention in socio-economic or political issues, etc.

Currently, the Presidential Council has Archbishop Ignatius A. Kaigama of Jos, Nigeria, as President, Bishop Jose Camnate na Bissign of Bissau in Guinea Bissau, as first Vice President and  Bishop Alexis Y. Touabli of Agboville, Ivory Coast, as second Vice President. The Secretary General is Fr. Joseph Aka (from Ivory Coast) who, together with the first and second Deputy Secretaries General (from Nigeria and Cape Verde respectively) and other administrative staff keep the Secretariat functioning maximally.

Among important issues discussed in Jos were:

a) the activities of the various episcopal commissions

b) the preparation for the 6th Standing Committee of RECOWA to be held in Praia, Cape Verde, from the 27th January to 1st February, 2018.

c) the preparations for the third General Plenary Assembly of RECOWA in Burkina Faso from 13th to 20th May, 2019.

d) further deliberations on setting up  of a high level body of RECOWA for conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and transformation.