ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST
FORTY-SIXTH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE AUTHORITY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMRNT
Abuja, 15th December 2014
SUPPLEMENTARY ACT A/SA.1/12/14 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
THE AUTHORITY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
MINDFUL of Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the ECOWAS Treaty as amended establishing the Authority of Heads of State and Government and defining its composition and functions;
MINDFUL of Article 60 of the said Treaty on cooperation in human resources;
MINDFUL of Decision A/Dec .11/5/82 on the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to determine the equivalence of certificates within ECOWAS;
MINDFUL of the General Convention A/C. 1/1/03 on the recognition and equivalence of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other qualifications in ECOWAS member States;
MINDFUL of ECOWAS Protocol A/P3/1/03 on education and training;
RECALLING the Pan-African Conference on Teachers Development (PACTED) Roadmap of AU of 1979 in Education and Research,
MINDFUL of the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, right of residence and establishment;
CONSIDERING the need to invest heavily in Human Capital Development in order to bring the ECOWAS region out of the abyss of poverty, ignorance and under development;
CONSIDERING the need to produce high level personnel that will improve the system of Higher Education and carry out research in strategic areas of importance to the ECOWAS region;
RECALLING the Regional Convention on the recognition of studies and certificates diplomas, degrees and other higher educational qualification in African States (UNESCO), Arusha Regional Convention;
CONSIDERING that education is internationally acclaimed as the bedrock to all human endeavors, a key to development, building knowledge societies, establishing a culture of peace, promoting democracy and human rights, eradicating poverty and ensuring sustainable livelihood for the population;
RECOGNIZING that the level of development of a country depends largely on the quality of its education system as well as its teachers and the need to strengthen the tripartite chain of socio – economic performance, quality education and teacher development;
ACKNOWLEDGING the need to institute initiatives that will improve teacher development, encourage research and impact on higher education;
URGING ECOWAS member States to set specific target allocation, at least 1% of their GDP for research purposes and Education;
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DESIROUS of adopting a common position in order to support and effectively provide incentives and initiatives to promote teacher education and research.
ON THE RECOMMENDATION of the Seventy third ordinary session of the Council of Ministers held in Abuja from 9th – 11th December, 2014;
AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
ARTICLE 1:
In the area of higher education and research
Member states shall:
a) Allocate one percent (1%) of their GDP to research as recommended by the then OAU in 1979 for implementation by Member States by 2025;