Half a century later, Is ECOWAS falling apart? [Africanews Debates]

Africanews (in English)

Half a century later, Is ECOWAS falling apart? [Africanews Debates]  [Business Africa]  READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2025/06/05/half-a-century-later-is-ecowas-falling-apart-africanews-debates  Subscribe on our Dailymotion channel and receive all the latest news from the continent.    Africanews is available in English and French.  Website : www.africanews.com  Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/africanews.channel/  Twitter : https://twitter.com/africanews

Transcript

01:30Thank you for joining us.

01:34My name is Ronald Cato.

01:35So, rocked by military takeovers, economic and social upheavals, the economic community

01:42of West African states, ECOWAS, is going through tough times.

01:47And that is the subject of our debate this afternoon.

01:53Before we get underway, here is a story we did at African News marking ECOWAS at 50.

02:01Exactly 50 years ago, on May 28, 1975, 15 West African countries agreed to establish the

02:10economic community of West African states, also known as ECOWAS.

02:14The first leadership was handed to the former Liberian president, William Tubman.

02:19Thanks to the profound work and call for unity by both the Togolese president, Pnyasimbe

02:23Iadema, and Nigerian former leader, Yakubu Gowon, the union came into effect in West Africa.

02:30Both traversed the region leading to the signing of the ECOWAS treaty in 1975 in Lagos by 50

02:35nations.

02:36The Lagos treaty was meant to enable the free movement of goods and people within the region.

02:42It was in 1990 that they abolished the use of personal identification cards while moving

02:47across the borders.

02:49Despite all its achievement, the journey has never been smooth.

02:53The three-nation bloc of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announced last year that they were

02:58leaving the regional bloc.

03:00They then created their own security partnership known as the Alliance of Sahel States, severe

03:05military ties with the long-standing Western partners such as U.S. and France, and turned

03:09Russia for military support.

03:15Time to introduce my panel now.

03:17I have from Accra, Emmanuel Kottin, Executive Director at the Africa Center for Security and

03:22Intelligence Studies.

03:24Good afternoon, Emmanuel.

03:26Good afternoon, and thank you for having me.

03:29Thank you for making time.

03:31And from the USA is Dr. Amaka Anku, Africa Director at Eurasia Group.

03:37She specializes in political economy and Africa-focused risk analysis.

03:42Is it a good morning to you, Amaka?

03:51Amaka, are you there?

03:52Yes.

03:56Good morning to you, and thanks for having me.

04:00That was amazing.

04:00Perfect.

04:01Thank you for joining the show.

04:04I have also Afolabi Adekayodja, is a political research analyst, joining us from Freetown, Sierra

04:11Leone.

04:12Good afternoon, Afolabi.

04:14Good afternoon.

04:15Happy to be here.

04:16Thank you for joining us, and Marie-Josiane Nga is the Project Coordinator at the West

04:23Africa Democracy Solidarity Network, joining us from Akosombo, Ghana.

04:29Good afternoon, Marie.

04:31Good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation.

04:35Thank you for making time.

04:37Can I start with you, Emmanuel?

04:39What do you think is the single most important challenge facing Akos as a bloc today, and

04:47is it really unique, or are these unique challenges, or they are the same challenges facing all

04:54the other regional blocs in Africa?

04:57There's the East African community, there's SADC.

04:59What do you think is the most important challenge facing Akos?

05:03Well, thank you for having me once again, and my greetings to my co-panelists.

05:10And the global audience, wherever they may be.

05:13In fact, I want to put it on record that Akosombo stands as one of Africa's most integrated

05:22regional communities, and a pioneering model for regional cooperation and integration.

05:31And I beat the challenges we are facing.

05:34Any other thing is affected by leadership.

05:40The problem with Akosombo is leadership, and it's quite unique across the other blocs within

05:46Africa.

05:47I think Africa has struggled over the period, if you want me to put it mildly, in the last

05:5330 years, to have the generational leaders we have had in the form of the Kwame Nkrumahs,

06:01the Jomu Kenyatas, the Julius Nyereres, and of recent times Nelson Mandela.

06:09So if you look at what is happening in Africa, in Akosombo today, it's not only an Akosombo problem,

06:17I see it as an African problem, as it permeates across the other blocs.

06:23And let me put it kindly here.

06:26You see, Africa, if we can put ourselves together by way of leadership, I don't think any African

06:36would want to leave the shores of Africa to Europe for greater pastures.

06:41And I dare say that the Francophone countries within the ECOWAS bloc, you realize that there

06:51are a lot of upheavals within that bloc because of the colonial parts that existed within France

07:00and these countries.

07:01So one may ask, we say democracy, what are the examples of democracy?

07:09How can the sovereign country have control over other sovereign countries in modern day

07:15world with the kind of globalization tendencies where no country can do it by itself?

07:24And the world is watching over.

07:27Look at what is happening in the United States of America.

07:31Is it not leadership issues?

07:34So it boils down to we as Africans, especially ECOWAS, to kind of work out and look at things

07:44in a different perspective.

07:46Our interdependence on free beats and depending on the Western countries for everything is a

07:53shame.

07:54And I think it's about time we move away from that kind of tendencies.

08:00We have everything here.

08:04And ECOWAS, per se, if we do our things right, we trade among ourselves and want to really invest

08:10in agriculture, we can feed the world.

08:13But the challenge is leadership.

08:16And let me backtrack a little bit.

08:19What is happening in the side here?

08:21It's not the first time ECOWAS have been able to overcome some of these challenges.

08:27You remember the 1990s and the conflicts that happened and ECOWAS was able to weather the storm.

08:35To me, what is happening currently, I see that as an opportunity for ECOWAS to be able to reform

08:44and bring democratic governance to the doorsteps of the people.

08:49I think the current crop of leaders...

08:51Emmanuel, we'll get to the Sahel in a bit.

08:59But the point you make about the current crop of leaders in West Africa, I want to put it to Amaka.

09:11To what extent do you agree with Emmanuel's assertion that the challenges that ECOWAS faces today

09:20are the result of the leadership it has, the current crop of leaders in the region?

09:25Yeah, so look, this is how I would characterize the problems that ECOWAS face.

09:32Broadly, it's one of economic development.

09:35It's one of finding ways to drive...

09:37This is a problem that's faced by countries across the region, but since we're talking about ECOWAS,

09:43finding ways to drive economic transformation such that these countries transition from just selling commodities

09:49to actually exporting value-added products, which will create jobs

09:55and boost manufacturing.

09:56So I say that to say that's the core of the problem.

09:59The symptoms that we see, which we can characterize as challenges, insecurity,

10:05the lack of provision of public goods, right?

10:08All of those things flow from the fact that we haven't yet figured out how to drive economic transformation

10:16and create jobs and boost non-commodity growth.

10:21So for me, fundamentally, the challenge is about attracting capital and driving economic transformation.

10:28And once, when you do that, you will solve the other symptoms of the problem you see,

10:33which is insecurity and the rest.

10:37Afolabi, how do you attract the capital that Amaka talks about when your region is rocked by insecurity,

10:47military takeovers, and all manner of political problems?

10:51Well, one of the first solutions really is about a much more forward-thinking and long-term approach

10:59to many of these problems that we are facing.

11:02One of the biggest issues within the region right now is the fact that many of the leaders,

11:06and I'm going back to Manuel's point about them being fairly gerontocratic,

11:10is the fact that many are looking at a more short-term approach,

11:14really trying to find a way to get the dividends quickly,

11:17something that helps them with any re-election prospects,

11:20or something that helps them in trying to really cater to their different constituencies.

11:24But the problem is that this is a very young continent.

11:27It's a very young area. It's very heterogeneous as well.

11:30And many of the citizens don't feel the level of trust in the leaders who are in place right now.

11:36It's the reason why many targeted disinformation campaigns can succeed,

11:39because people don't feel that there's that level of trust with the people who are in place right now.

11:44The challenge that many African governments are going to deal with,

11:48especially in trying to attract capital.

Category

Transcript

Recommended