By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured ECOWAS Bank that Nigeria will not fall short of her commitment to it despite the economic downturn in the country occasioned largely by fallen prices of oil in the international market.
Mr Buhari made this known on Monday when he received President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Mr Bashir Mamma, at the State House in Abuja.
“We may be limping because of fallen oil prices, but we will fulfil our commitments to the bank. We may have fallen behind, but we will live up very soon. We will maintain the objectives of setting up the bank, which is to help our less financially endowed neighbours,” he told Mr Mamma.
On his part, the EBID boss said that the bank was the financing arm of ECOWAS, which has been in existence for about 30 years.
Mr Mamma explained that the EBID was initially set up as a Fund to help less developed West African states, but now covers all parts of the sub-region.
He added that EBID set up Ecobank, and has also established an airline, after the national airlines of most member countries collapsed.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka