Leaders of ECOWAS countries met in Abuja last week to map out steps on how to put more bite to past conventions and protocols, writes Correspondent, SAM NWOKORO
In these days of seeming global frustrations with fundamentalists-inspired terrorism in Africa, the powerful western nations, especially America and Europe to which Africa usually looks up for solutions to her myriad self-inflicted problems, must be heaving a sigh of relief. To them, at last, some states in the Black continent are beginning to realise that the destiny of the continent lies much within.
That is, leaders of the African union (AU) and other sub-regional groupings in the continent like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have their work cut out for them. For much of the past two decades, many nations in Africa, ECOWAS members inclusive, have largely depended on external aid in diverse forms for tackling much of their socio-political and economic problems. This created the problem of lack of cohesion in the pursuit of the goals and objectives for forming sub-regional groupings.
ECOWAS, for instance, was created in May 28, 1975, for the purpose of harmonising the political and economic priorities of the 17 member countries and to speak as a bloc on global issues, while canvassing for the members’ interests. However, much of the founding objectives of ECOWAS were, as soon as the body was created, hampered by ideological polarity that wracked world politics in the 1970s and 80s. The period of cold war between America and United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), capitalist doctrines versus communist ideologies, and the associated quest for satellite outposts in Africa by the major ideological divides, or more to the point, retardation of the lofty principles and objectives of ECOWAS as some of its members were towed in ideological alliances to either American capitalist/democratic flyers or Russia’s communist and socialist doctrine.
Thus ECOWAS, in practical terms, became just a collection of debaters; that is, debating club of a sort that has no vision or template on which to pursue its stated principles and objectives on a sustainable basis.
ECOWAS is made up of countries like Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
A Re-awakening
Monday, last week ECOWAS heads of state and governments met at its secretariat in Abuja. Obviously, the summit was the first by the body since some member countries were rankled by the Ebola scourge. It hit many countries in the ECOWAS sub-region and some, like Nigeria, were able to contain it, while some like Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea Bissau are still contending with it. This made the heads of ECOWAS governments to issue a statement through its chairman, President John Mahama of Ghana, warning even those member countries that have overcome the disease that: “Ebola remains a potent threat to the sub-region.”
Another agenda that the summit in Abuja, the 46th edition, last week tackled was security and terrorism ravaging most parts of the ECOWAS countries.
“In the Sahel region, we have witnessed the increasing proliferation of small arms and light weapons. As a result, countries in the region are today threatened by insurgents and terrorists. Their actions have dire consequences for the continuing peace, stability and prosperity of the region,” said President Goodluck Jonathan, who hosted the summit, and is the chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments.
“In the Gulf of Guinea, the increasing incidence of piracy has reached a worrisome dimension. This is compounded by drug trafficking, oil bunkering and human trafficking.”
The Abuja ECOWAS summit also received the report of the 33rd meeting of one of its several strategic committees, the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council. It also reviewed the political turmoil in Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa and is about 297,200sq2. It is bordered by Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Cote d’Ivoire to south west. The population is about 17.3 million people. It got independence from France in 1960. Before the independence, it was ruled by different ethnic groups including the Mossai kingdom. After independence, it went through many government changes and today it is a semi-presidential system where there is a prime minister and a “dormant” executive president.
Recently deposed Blaise Campore has been the longest serving, having ruled the country from 1987 until he was ousted from power in October 31, 2014 by popular youth uprising against his continued stay in office, and the military took over.
The recent political rattles in Burkina Faso has since painted a sordid picture of the organisation as one ruled by serial sit-tight autocrats, whose policies, often lacking in modern trends, most times put the sub-region at odds with leaders of powerful world and donor leaders, apart from messing the continent’s image as the next investment destination in the world.
Campore is now in exile in Cote d’Ivoire. An interim government headed by Augustine Denise Barry was put in place soon after the coup. An internal affairs ministry in Burkina Faso said on November 22: “The party named the Congress for Democracy (formed by Campore) has been suspended for activities incompatible with the law.”
Jonathan received praises from the AU secretariat for facilitating the return to the barracks of the military after appointing Lt. Col. Isaac Zida as interim PM. In a commendation letter extended to Jonathan for facilitating the constitutional democratic process in Burkina Faso, the AU information unit said: “The African Union acknowledges and is happy with the role the Nigerian government, through the ECOWAS, has played in restoring civilian order in Burkina Faso.”
Security challenges of ECOWAS
Speaker after speaker at the summit last week expressed concern over the growing instability in the region, brought about by the fanaticism of religious bigots and the external funding they receive, which the various committees of ECOWAS have not been able to keep pace with. However, the summit agreed to give bite to the implementation of various past protocols.
For instance, it appraised the extent of members’ commitment to the building up of the ECOWAS support force of about 3,300 planned since 2012. But it was silent about the extent it has gone in building the sub-regional force. Again, ECOWAS pledged to assist Nigeria in fighting the insurgency in the North East, especially the release of the Chiobok girls. Yet, there were no specifics regarding the extent the body has gone in helping Nigeria in that direction.
The ECOWAS chairman specifically made the pledge during his talks with President Jonathan during the last World Economic Forum (WEF) in Abuja, in May.
According to the global African security watchdog called Institute for Security Studies (ISS) based in Pretoria, South Africa, some of the problems militating against ECOWAS realisation of its security arrangements and architecture for the benefit of its members include, but not limited to: the general lack of co-operation on criminal matters among ECOWAS member states, which also extends to the body’s fight against terrorism and related crimes in the sub-region.
An analysis on ECOWAS security profile from the institutes’ secretariat noted: “The general lack of co-operation on criminal matters extends to terrorism. Since 1978, ECOWAS has adopted a number of legal instruments to promote inter-state co-operation on criminal and defence issues, including the 1994 Convention on Extradition, 1992 ECOWAS Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters, 1982 Convention for Mutual Administrative Assistance in Defence, 1978 Protocols on Non-Aggression, and the 1977 Framework Agreement of the Protocol on Non-Aggression and Assistance in Defence. The challenge, therefore, has never been lack of legal frameworks, but the absence of effective implementation of existing legal regimes.”
ISS also noted that: “Recently, ECOWAS adopted a political declaration and a common position on terrorism, which provides for a counter-terrorism strategic and implementation plan to help member states tackle terrorism. While the political declaration and strategy specifically called for increased police co-operation, turning the provisions into action will require external support, particularly from international partners, as well as an analysis of best practices in other parts of the world.”
Other problems identified by ISS in the sub-region’s counter-terrorism efforts include limited practical co-operation among the member states’ police who naturally are the first responders to crime, timely sharing of information among member states’ police and allied security forces, state sovereignty which hinders timely sharing of information and intelligence because of the view that practical counter-terrorism co-operation, particularly at the police level impinge on state privacy, and also the dichotomies that traditionally exist in the engagement rules of other security agencies relevant in the counter-terrorism efforts such as the gendarmerie, intelligence agencies, the army, navy, customs and port/border authorities.
The ISS summarised by noting that: “The relationships among the above security elements is characterised by competition and mistrust, which hinder effective joint operations and information sharing, compounded by uneven financial and material resources, interactive data bases and adaptive communication tools at the disposal of individual member states.”
The extent the latest Abuja summit took all these into consideration to impact on the main agenda of checkmating insurgencies in the countries can only be seen later, perhaps after the sub-region might have overcome the Ebola plague which is still ravaging Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guineas-Bissau.
Bite to economic, trade policies
It is on the economic business sector that the benefits of the recent ECOWAS summit can be seen, and that is if the member countries walk their talk. The summit ratified all existing arrangements regarding trade policies, particularly the common external tariffs (CET) which would make the movement of goods and services within the sub-region have uniform tariff, and therefore non-discriminatory prices. The common tariff will take off next month and will boost trade and commerce within the sub-region. Discriminatory Customs duties has so hindered many Nigerian companies from exporting their produce and services. After paying export charges at home, they end up paying even more at their various destinations.
The ECOWAS passport, which many Nigerian businessmen carry about, especially those that ply within the west coast route, has served little purpose. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has been vigorously campaigning for quick conclusion of the ECOWAS trade harmonisation talk that has long been going on among member states of the sub-regional trade bloc.
ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), a project of the Ministry of Trade and Investments, has now received the much-needed bite, and local businessmen can now feel right to access the intervention offered by the Export Guarantee Scheme, (EGS), a soft financial intervention scheme meant to incentivise local entrepreneurs whose markets are within the ECOWAS states.
The Common External Tariff (CET) ratification means increased movement of goods and services within the sub-region with minimal logistic hindrances. For an economy like Nigeria’s, in fact ECOWAS as a whole, eagerly wanting little manipulations from big economies of the west regarding market access, opening up domestic markets for the more than 350 million people in the sub-region is a good omen.
What’s in it for Nigeria?
Nigeria is touted as the most advanced economy in the sub-region, and the most populous. With series of government incentives in the sectors in order to create jobs and mitigate unemployment and emigration, the ratification of CET bodes well for the Nigerian economy. Obviously, it is another plus for Minister of Trade and Investments, Olusegun Aganga, as his re-appointment is in good stead if Jonathan gets another term by February next year. In a campaign season like this, it is also a plus.