Appraising ECOWAS’ 50 years of subregional integration

By Mark Longyen,

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established by its founding fathers on May 28, 1975 with the aim of fostering regional economic integration, mutual cooperation, and political stability among its member states.

The creation of the subregional bloc was driven by the collective desire of member states to address their common challenges and harness shared opportunities.

They sought to translate their c

ommon heritage of historical, socio-cultural, political experiences and ties into regional growth and development by promoting effective cooperation and integrating their development processes.

After nearly 50 years, international affairs pundits posit that ECOWAS has not only emerged as West Africa’s most formidable powerhouse but also Africa’s most successful subregional economic community.

According to them, ECOWAS has now transitioned from being a mere international organisation to becoming a community of people, gradually emerging as “ECOWAS of Peoples,” as was encapsulated in its Vision 2020.

The subregional institution has also metamorphosed from being a mere economic bloc into both an economic and political union rolled into one, boasting an avalanche of significant successes in subregional integration, peace, and security.

ECOWAS is now regarded as a pacesetter in subregional integration in Africa, and a global trademark, entrenching the values and culture of democracy and human rights in West Africa.

Recall that it was ECOWAS that provided the bulk of the basis for the African Union’s frameworks.

ECOWAS’ laudable success story has not gone unnoticed as the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in a recent study, described the bloc as a ‘’model of advanced integration’’.

The UN body noted that ECOWAS has built a solid institutional architecture, a globally recognised organisation in the broader context of the African Union, when compared to Africa’s other subregional communities.

“ECOWAS has strived to adopt protocols and to define policies and programmes covering almost all areas of integration identified in its initial treaty, and later in the revised treaty.

“In terms of real impact, the performances of ECOWAS, since its establishment, may be deemed to be both great and average at this stage.

“ECOWAS has the potential to accelerate the integration of its member states. It has gained valuable experience in successfully grouping and sustaining countries as members,” the report said.

UNECA added that by May when it will be marking its 50th anniversary, ECOWAS could be largely celebrated for meeting the targets it set in its constitutive treaty and becoming a successful subregional economic community model in Africa.

The development is indeed a fulfilled prophecy of sorts, as the organisation boasts a myriad of legendary achievements in the past five decades.

One of the key achievements of ECOWAS is the successful implementation of its 1976 Protocol on Free Movement of persons, goods, and services within the community.

The Protocol, which permits community citizens the right of abode in any member state, has been ECOWAS’ calling card over the years, as West African citizens do not have to think about a visa when they cross borders within the subregion.

It has precipitated and strengthened economic integration and created a formidable common market of nearly 400 million people for the subregion.

Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former Nigerian Head of State and founding father of ECOWAS, while reinforcing this view recently, noted that in spite of the bloc’s shortcomings, the bloc has achieved a lot in the past 50 years.

He listed the organisation’s major accomplishments to include trade liberalisation, the right of West Africans to live legitimately in any country within the community, and the execution of successful peacekeeping operations, among others.

“ECOWAS is more than a coalition of states. It is a community established for the good of our peoples, based on shared history, culture, and tradition.

“Neither my generation, nor present or future generations will understand or forgive the breakup of our community,” he said.

Gowon, therefore, charged member states to ensure a united ECOWAS, going forward. He, particularly, urged Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to rescind their decision to exit the bloc.

Corroborating Gowon’s view, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, says ECOWAS has achieved a lot in terms of peace and security in the subregion.

According to him, ECOWAS is the only African subregional economic community where there is no open, high-intensity conflict in spite of the activities of violent extremist groups. 

Musah says that ECOWAS has also learned from its past intraregional civil wars and implosion of states in the 1990s, adding that the bloc has no choice but to gravitate to security matters and good governance.

He also observed that if ECOWAS had not been created the whole subregion would have been engulfed in fratricidal conflicts bearing in mind the turmoil and turbulence that became common in ...-Cold War Africa.

“If you remember, a war started in Liberia towards the end of 1989. It continued throughout the 1990s, spreading to Sierra Leone and then to Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire.

“ECOWAS intervened through its multilateral armed forces – the Economic Community of West African States Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).

“This stabilised the situation and eventually provided a soft landing for the United Nations peacekeepers, who came in subsequently,” he said.

ECOWAS has also achieved a lot in its efforts to develop physical infrastructure across West Africa.

This comprises energy, internet connectivity, building rail and road networks, among numerous other projects within the subregion.

One of ECOWAS’ flagship projects in its 50 years of existence, that has raised many eyebrows and drawn global applause, is the ambitious, multibillion-dollar Abidjan-Lagos Highway Corridor and Railway initiative.

The 1,028-kilometre transnational coastal highway is designed to  connect five West African countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria – to create an economic corridor that will be instrumental in advancing subregional trade and development.

The project is due to begin in 2026 with its completion expected in 2030.

When complete, the project is expected to turn the corridor into a vibrant economic and industrial hub that will revolutionise connectivity throughout West Africa.