ECOWAS: The endangered dream of a common currency 

At a time when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is supposed to be rolling out the drums in celebration of its golden jubilee, the sub-regional body is seriously facing the danger of outright extinction. Founded almost 50 years ago, on May 28, 1975, via the signing of the ‘Treaty of Lagos’, the body aimed to promote economic integration, cooperation, and development among the member states.

For several decades, one of its major projects has been the adoption of a common currency —Eco— which has the potential to transform the economic landscape of West Africa by promoting economic growth, integration and development. But like ECOWAS itself, the common currency has been mired in controversies. Implementation of the Eco has been facing several challenges, including lack of fiscal discipline, coordination of monetary policies, and the development of a robust financial infrastructure, etc.

Apart from wide disparity in the level of economic development among the fifteen member states, one of the most centrifugal forces that have been stalling the development of the ECOWAS has been the overt (some covert) allegiance of its members to their former colonial overlords. The Anglophobic and Francophobic tendencies within the economic bloc have since inception been at loggerheads.

It is an open secret that the ‘Assimilation’ policies of France implied infusing their socio-political and cultural life into their colonies — even after their political independence. This is why virtually all Francophone ECOWAS member states have had their national currencies tied directly to French currency (CFA franc) — and their ‘external reserves’ denominated in it. Paris has always used this umbilical cord to determine the direction and pace of economic progress in its former colonies.

And so, economically tied to the apron strings of France, the Francophone ECOWAS members usually wittingly or unwittingly pander to the dictates of Paris. This is why on not a few occasions, critical policy decisions of ECOWAS on their journey to economic integration were either sabotaged or thwarted.

Of particular relevance here was the emergence of France in 2019 to facilitate the creation/adoption of the Eco currency — for only its former colonies who are members of ECOWAS. In pursuit of this objective, France agreed to renounce its right to appoint a representative to the governing board of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) — which cleared the way for the creation of the Eco currency.

Meanwhile, ECOWAS itself started working on the Eco currency in December 2000, when the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) was formally launched. And the Eco was to be launched in 2003. But almost 20 years after the Eco initiative commenced, France in 2019, in cahoots with its ‘puppets’ opted to create and own the Eco — for only the Francophone countries.

It goes without saying that this Paris-led move to ‘steal’ the Eco currency idea generated a lot of political and diplomatic tension and furore within and without the ECOWAS fold. It marked the climax of the checkered creation process of the Eco, whose launch had been aborted for the umpteenth time.

In fact, in June 2021, the Heads of State of ECOWAS adopted a roadmap for the launch of the common currency in 2027; this was sequel to the deliberations of the 59th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS.

But rather than sticking to the blueprint for the realisation of the Eco, a multiplicity of factors have conspired to ‘kill’ the idea. For instance, in the past 25 years it has been practically impossible for most members of the ECOWAS to achieve the “convergence criteria.” Some of these criteria include price stability, fiscal discipline, and exchange rate stability in the component member economies.

It is noteworthy that rather than achieving these criteria, member countries, including Nigeria, have been grappling with wobbling economic conditions. In Nigeria, for instance, price stability which implied maintaining low inflation rate, has remained a key challenge to the economy. Rather than dropping, the inflation rate has sustained a spiraling trend: rising from about 22.4 percent in June 2023 to 34.6 percent in November 2024.

In terms of fiscal discipline, rather than limiting fiscal deficits and public debt to ensure sustainable economic growth and stability, Nigeria has been on a borrowing spree, with burgeoning deficits. Exchange rate instability has also remained the lot of the economy for a couple of years. The situation is not remarkably different in other ECOWAS member states — as most of them are burdened by heavy public debt overhang and macro-economic instability.

While these dreary realities are the lot of the ‘Eco dream’, the ECOWAS sub-regional body itself faces a more potent existential threat. Now, more than ever before, are some of its members opting to go their separate ways. Driven by the wind of global political, economic and diplomatic alignment and realignment, some Francophone members are now determined to free themselves from the apron strings of Paris.

Specifically, three of the eight Francophone member states have not only abandoned democratic rules and enthroned military leadership in the past few years, but also opted to do away with the vestiges of French hegemony. Three founding members — Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic — having come under military rules following coups at various times in 2022/23, on January 28, 2024, issued a joint statement, announcing their exit from the sub-regional body.

Although the military leaders in these countries tried to justify their taking over power, they specifically accused ECOWAS leaders of being too aligned with Western powers, especially France, at the detriment of their own countries. Also, in their joint statement, they said their decision to exit ECOWAS was also in protest against the bloc’s hardline position over the coups in their countries, the imposition of hard sanctions, as well as the threat of military invasion.

To demonstrate their determination to exit ECOWAS, the three countries have gone on to sign a tripartite defense treaty and a new confederation: the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — as an alternative to ECOWAS. With this initiative, all is set for these Sahel states to make good their threat to quit ECOWAS — after almost fifty years of their membership.

As the one-year exit notice by the trio elapses at end-January 2025, the ECOWAS will certainly not be the same. This, in part, is because almost the rest of the Francophone countries have also joined in some ways in breaking links with France. Already, French military bases in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, Guinea are all reported to have either been closed or in the process of being shut down completely.

Alluding to the ugly recent past and the uncertain future of the sub-regional bloc in his Year End Message 2024, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, said “As we draw the curtain on 2024, it is fitting to reflect on a year that has tested the resilience of our community. It has been a challenging period, marked by threats to our unity as well as to peace and stability in our region.”

Unfortunately, these threats to unity and peace in the West African sub-region have the potential to snowball into an explosion that could dismember the entire ECOWAS. This is because some of the exiting members are already overtly or covertly entering into socio-political, economic and diplomatic alliances with hitherto ‘strange bedfellows.’

Happening at a time of what seems like the ‘repartitioning’ of Africa, after the ‘Scramble for Africa’ ended in 1900, the ‘decamping’ members of ECOWAS now see themselves as ‘beautiful brides’ to several global economic powers. These poor, landlocked and mainly war-ravaged West African countries seem to want to demonstrate their ‘full liberation’ from the suffocating stranglehold of their former colonial overlords.

Already, their ‘confederation’ (the AES) is to function as a parallel body to ECOWAS. So, whither the ECOWAS and its long-awaited common currency — the Eco?

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