Economic Community of West African States


The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of, and in 2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million.
The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region. A revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou. Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent-wide African Economic Community, the stated goal of ECOWAS is to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union.
The ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region, with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene in the bloc's member countries at times of political instability and unrest. In recent years these included interventions in Ivory Coast in 2003, Liberia in 2003, Guinea-Bissau in 2012, Mali in 2013, and The Gambia in 2017.
ECOWAS includes two sub-regional blocs:
In addition, ECOWAS includes the following institutions: ECOWAS Commission, Community Court of Justice, Community Parliament, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, West African Health Organisation, and the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in West Africa.
The ECOWAS operates in three co-official languages—French, English, and Portuguese, and consists of two institutions to implement policies: the ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, formerly known as the Fund for Cooperation until it was renamed in 2001. In 1976, Cape Verde joined the ECOWAS, while Mauritania withdrew in December 2000, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.
In 2011, the ECOWAS adopted its development blueprint for the next decade, Vision 2020, and, to accompany it, a Policy on Science and Technology.

Member states

As of February 2017, ECOWAS has 15 member states; eight of these are French-speaking, five are English-speaking, and two Portuguese-speaking. All current members joined the community as founding members in May 1975, except Cape Verde which joined in 1977. The only former member of ECOWAS is Arabic-speaking Mauritania, which was also one of the founding members in 1975 and decided to withdraw in December 2000. Mauritania recently signed a new associate-membership agreement in August 2017.
Morocco officially requested to join ECOWAS in February 2017. The application was endorsed in principle at the summit of heads of state in June 2017, but Morocco's bid for membership was stalled.
Statistics for population, nominal GDP and purchasing power parity GDP listed below are taken from World Bank estimates for 2015, published in December 2016. Area data is taken from a 2012 report compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division.
CountryArea
Population
CurrencyOfficial
language
403352116033413escudoPortuguese
1129519919393344dalasiEnglish
24585712609669915244francFrench
36125184410572685CFA francPortuguese
111369450320533762dollarEnglish
1240192176001274735695CFA francFrench
196712151291361036625CFA francFrench
723006453421510127leoneEnglish
ECOWAS Zone A total19178836055042923110895

CountryArea
Population
CurrencyOfficial
language
11476310880829122377CFA francFrench
272967181061067830708CFA francFrench
2385332741037543115409cediEnglish
322463227023175979766CFA francFrench
126700019899714319013CFA francFrench
9237681822024810661093921NairaEnglish
567857305408810667CFA francFrench
ECOWAS Zone B total31962792775025805681371861

Structure

Executive Secretaries of the Commissions

Executive SecretaryCountryIn office
Inaugural holder Aboubakar Diaby OuattaraJanuary 1977 – 1985
Momodu Munu1985–1989
Abass Bundu1989–1993
Édouard Benjamin1993–1997
Lansana KouyatéSeptember 1997 – 31 January 2002
Mohamed Ibn Chambas1 February 2002 – 31 December 2007
Mohamed Ibn Chambas1 January 2007 – 18 February 2010
James Victor Gbeho18 February 2010 – 1 March 2012
Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo1 March 2012 – 4 June 2016
Marcel Alain de Souza4 June 2016 – 1 March 2018

Chairpersons

ChairpersonCountryIn office
Yakubu Gowon28 May 1975 – 29 July 1975
Gnassingbé Eyadéma29 July 1975 – 13 September 1977
Olusegun Obasanjo13 September 1977 – 30 September 1979
Léopold Sédar Senghor30 September 1979 – 31 December 1980
Gnassingbé Eyadéma1980–1981
Siaka Stevens1981–1982
Mathieu Kérékou1982–1983
Ahmed Sékou Touré1983–1984
Lansana Conté1984–1985
Muhammadu Buhari1985 – 27 August 1985
Ibrahim Babangida27 August 1985 – 1989
Dawda Jawara1989–1990
Blaise Compaoré1990–1991
Dawda Jawara1991–1992
Abdou Diouf1992–1993
Nicéphore Soglo1993–1994
Jerry Rawlings1994 – 27 July 1996
Sani Abacha27 July 1996 – 8 June 1998
Abdulsalami Abubakar9 June 1998 – 1999
Gnassingbé Eyadéma1999 – 1999
Alpha Oumar Konaré1999 – 21 December 2001
Abdoulaye Wade21 December 2001 – 31 January 2003
John Kufuor31 January 2003 – 19 January 2005
Mamadou Tandja19 January 2005 – 19 January 2007
Blaise Compaoré19 January 2007 – 19 December 2008
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua19 December 2008 – 18 February 2010
Goodluck Jonathan18 February 2010 – 17 February 2012
Alassane Ouattara17 February 2012 – 17 February 2013
John Mahama17 February 2013 – 19 May 2015
Macky Sall19 May 2015 – 4 June 2016
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf4 June 2016 – 4 June 2017
Faure Gnassingbé4 June 2017 – 31 July 2018
Muhammadu Buhari31 July 2018 – 29 June 2019
Mahamadou Issoufou29 June 2019 – present

Regional security co-operation

The ECOWAS nations assigned a non-aggression protocol in 1990 along with two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May 1981, that provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community.

Community Parliament

The Community Parliament consists of 115 members, distributed based on the population of each member state. This body is headed by the Speaker of the Parliament, who is above the Secretary General.
CountryParliament Seats
5
6
5
7
5
8
6
5
5
6
6
35
6
5
5

Expanded ECOWAS Commission

For the third time since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS is undergoing institutional reforms. The first was when it revised its treaty on 24 July 1993; the second was in 2007 when the Secretariat was transformed into a Commission. As of July 2013, ECOWAS now has six new departments.

Community Court of Justice

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice was created by a protocol signed in 1991 and was later included in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty of the Community in 1993. However, the Court did not officially begin operations until the 1991 protocol came into effect on 5 November 1996. The jurisdiction of the court is outlined in Article 9 and Articles 76 of the Revised Treaty and allows rulings on disputes between states over interpretations of the Revised Treaty. It also provides the ECOWAS Council with advisory opinions on legal issues. Like its companion courts, the European Court of Human Rights and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches.

Sporting and cultural exchange

ECOWAS nations organise a broad array of cultural and sports events under the auspices of the body, including the CEDEAO Cup in football, the 2012 ECOWAS Games and the Miss CEDEAO beauty pageant.

Economic integration

West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)

The West African Economic and Monetary Union is an organisation of eight, mainly francophone West African states within the ECOWAS, that were dominated otherwise by anglophone heavyweights like Nigeria and Ghana. It was established to promote economic integration among countries that share the CFA franc as a common currency. UEMOA was created by a Treaty signed at Dakar, Senegal, on 10 January 1994, by the heads of state and governments of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. On 2 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, became the organisation's eighth member state.
UEMOA is a customs union and currency union between the members of ECOWAS. Its objectives include:
Among its achievements, the UEMOA has successfully implemented macro-economic convergence criteria and an effective surveillance mechanism. It has adopted a customs union and common external tariff and has combined indirect taxation regulations, in addition to initiating regional structural and sectoral policies. A September 2002 IMF survey cited the UEMOA as "the furthest along the path toward integration" of all the regional groupings in Africa.
ECOWAS and UEMOA have developed a common plan of action on trade liberalisation and macroeconomic policy convergence. The organizations have also agreed on common rules of origin to enhance trade, and ECOWAS has agreed to adopt UEMOA's customs declaration forms and compensation mechanisms.

Membership

Formed in 2000, the West African Monetary Zone is a group of six countries within ECOWAS that plan to introduce a common currency called the Eco. The six member states of WAMZ are Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone who founded the organisation together in 2000 and Liberia who joined on 16 February 2010. Apart from Guinea, which is francophone, they are all English-speaking countries. Along with Mauritania, Guinea opted out of the CFA franc currency shared by all other former French colonies in West and Central Africa.
The WAMZ attempts to establish a strong stable currency to rival the CFA franc, whose exchange rate is tied to that of the euro and is guaranteed by the French Treasury. The eventual goal is for the CFA franc and eco to merge, giving all of West and Central Africa a single, stable currency. The launch of the new currency is being developed by the West African Monetary Institute based in Accra, Ghana.

Membership

A Trans-ECOWAS project, established in 2007, plans to upgrade railways in this zone.