Half a century later, Is ECOWAS falling apart? [Africanews Debates]
[Business Africa]
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[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
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NewsTranscript
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.