Pelumi Nubi’s Epic Solo Drive

On 28 May 1975, in Lagos, 16 countries signed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) treaty with the mission of promoting economic integration within West Africa. The current membership slightly differs: Cape Verde joined the economic community in 1977, while Mauritania withdrew its membership in 2000. More recently, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali have expressed desires to leave the community to form a union amongst themselves. These Sahel countries accuse ECOWAS of failing to address terrorism and being a puppet for external powers, calling post-coup sanctions illegitimate.

At its outset, the primary aim of ECOWAS was to raise the living standards of member states’ peoples, maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations among member states and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent.

Economic integration varies in intensity, from free trade areas that involve the removal of tariffs on goods to a total political union where states form a single sovereign entity. The early 1960s debates between the Monrovia vs Casablanca groups leading to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor to the African Union (AU), sidelined ambitions for a multilateral political union of African states. Instead, the focus shifted towards progressive economic integration as favoured by the Monrovia Group. Thus, ECOWAS was conceived with the idea of progressive integration culminating in a union just shy of political integration. This is reflected in the community’s objectives that express a desire to establish a free trade area and then progress into a common market where all trade barriers are eliminated and common external trade and tariff policy exists. This was meant to lead to the establishment of a customs union that included a common monetary policy.

As part of this grand tapestry, in 1979 ECOWAS adopted Protocol A/P.1/5/79 relating to the free movement of persons, residence, and establishment. The ECOWAS treaty envisioned this protocol, as it stated that the free movement of persons, services, and capital was essential to the achievement of economic integration and thus committed member states to abolish obstacles hindering this movement. In line with this, community citizenship was established under Article 27 of the treaty.