An author’s take on ECOWAS’ future

Title: The Future of ECOWAS: Critical Perspectives
Author: Mansourou Radji
Publisher: Xlibris, UK
Year: 2020
Pages: 334
Reviewer: Benjamin Uzoka

The West African subregion has been enmeshed in turmoil bordering on politically motivated violence, insurgency, economic inequality, electoral manipulation, constitutional crises, repression of opposition and civil society, inordinate third-term agenda of some leaders, developmental challenges, indebtedness, single currency debacle, to mention a few.

The formation of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) was meant to foster regional integration and economic prosperity among the 15-member states. But four decades down the line, the attainment of these and other lofty goals have not been attained.

Mansourou Radji, the author of ‘The Future of ECOWAS: Critical Perspectives’, has diligently examined the myriad of problems militating against the development of West Africa in this offering. The result is a 334-page thought-provoking read in five parts. According to the preface, it is an attempt to find solutions and urging ordinary West Africans to take action, “because it is not too late to turn the tide in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Togo and anywhere in the subregion where autocrats have established their own version of heaven on earth in total disregard for human life.”

Part one of the work-ECOWAS, ‘A Regional Economic Integration Like No Other’, traces the foundation of the body and its undemocratic antecedents. It prepares the mind of the reader on where ECOWAS is coming from and where its floundering ship has taken it to.

The rationale behind the creation of ECOWAS, we are reminded, is twofold: “to realise maximum profit from collective self-reliance for the benefit of the West African population, and to achieve an effective economic union between Anglophone and Francophone countries” (p. 2). But a reality check highlights, sadly, poor performance in trade and economy, considering that the economic arrangements within it revolve around “developing Infrastructure, Policy Harmonisation and Good Corporate Governance.” The author is worried that, within ECOWAS, productivity is very low, because some countries are dragging collective efforts down, and barriers to trade also obtains.

Nigeria, as ECOWAS’ most populous nation and largest economy, ought to be a catalyst to ECOWAS’ economic and democratic progress. But the author laments that “the underdevelopment in Nigeria, laid at the doorstep of corrupt Nigerian politicians and a weak Nigerian economy … could sound a death knell of the regional organisation” (p. 14). More worrisome for Radji is that, despite being the largest economy in Africa, most people in Nigeria are poor.

This book enlightens us on the built-in contradictions in ECOWAS, which have stalled its development in many fields. He observes that neoliberal reforms initiated by Nigeria in the early 1980s haven’t been embraced by all member states. Apart from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Senegal, the author laments that almost every other country in the region has a weak manufacturing sector (or lacks one altogether). For example, the Republic of Benin has no industries. “The leaders of this small country have yet to realise that industrialisation is a healthy pathway to rapid job creation” (p.17).

Besides, ECOWAS’ Regional agricultural Investment Programme failed woefully because member states behaved irrationally, competing with each other with basically similar raw materials and natural resources. Hence, “the volume of intraregional trade is insignificant compared to the rest of the world” as “almost all ECOWAS member states prefer to import goods that can be found in neighbouring countries” (p. 19). Saddening!

Needless to say, ECOWAS has, according to Radji, been marked by a multitude of subregional industrial and agricultural policies, yet it is struggling with collective action, as these policies are barely implemented. “The problem is that nobody within ECOWAS could agree what action to take to propel the organisation into the twenty-first century” (p. 20), writes the author.

Just as ECOWAS has been struggling with economic problems, the subregional body hasn’t fared better on the political front. Radji avers that bad governance didn’t appear in West Africa overnight, as “the seeds of destruction are sown deep within their political institutions” (p. 25). Despite its abundant resources, it has remained a region for the poor, the hungry, the starved, and defenceless. Electricity is also an issue, says the author.

He mentions the regimes of Boni Yayi (Benin), Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria) as recent examples where corruption flourished. He also discusses the political and institutional crisis in Guinea Bissau, the constitutional crisis in Togo, the endless political and security issues in Mali, the controversial Benin legislative election and the questionable workings of its political apparatus and relationship with the opposition. In terms of human development, the author is dismayed that West Africa has gone backwards, which is why he contends that good governance must be taken seriously. These are in the areas of public sector management, accountability, legal framework for development, and information and transparency. Also worrisome, according to the author, is the lack of solid relationship between the state and interest groups in West Africa, thus, traditions of civil society have weakened in West Africa.

‘The Future of ECOWAS’ paints a decaying picture of ECOWAS’ societies and economies. We learn here that, in West Africa, political manipulation overcomes any other agenda. Benin is presented as one of the West African countries where the government is tightening its grip on power in a questionable manner. He adds: “Benin’s political crisis reflects a wider disturbing trend in West Africa. Across the region, from Guinea to Togo, Senegal, Mali and Ivory Coast, free speech is under attack” (p. 105).

An assessment of the subregion’s economic integration by Radji isn’t flattering at all, with complacency as a major drawback. With the rise of neoliberal economics and the return of democratic governance after a series of military interventions, the region renewed its dream of integration. Radji submits that this goal has remained uncertain for ECOWAS’ 450 million population caused, especially, by a persistently low intraregional trade (in the neighborhood of 2.5 per cent. Part of the failure of ECOWAS to bring the much needed prosperity to its people has been blamed on the Francophone-Anglophone divide, creating two parallel economic blocks within the subregion. Again, the dream of a single currency (Eco) has remained a pipe dream due to many factors.

Though the future looks bleak for the subregion, as the author points out in the fourth chapter, all hope isn’t lost. In the light of widespread failures, the author echoes there is an urgent quest for what the alternative looks like. In this chapter, Radji discusses the Morocco question, whether it will be admitted into ECOWAS or not. The compelling arguments for and against the bid by King Mohammed VI on January 31, 2017, are thrashed out by Radji. In addition, the inroads made by tech companies in West Africa, especially Nigeria, are announced in this chapter.

Nevertheless, the book is optimistic that there is hope for West Africa if its drivers can do the right thing. One of the major hopes, he says, is repaying “the IMF, China’s killer loans” and starting the pushback. Besides, ECOWAS has to reset its political agenda by ensuring political reforms in order to deliver economic and social solutions. According to Radji, the political powers of big corporations must be curtailed, the Continental Free Trade (CFT) and the single currency should be developed, while the economy should be stimulated, to mention a few remedies contained in the book.

Radji has written a rare detailed book tracing the problems of ECOWAS and how political indifference, phonetic egoism, leadership ineptitude and poor policy execution have robbed it of its glory. For political scientists, ECOWAS leaders, economists and citizens of the subregion, The Future of ECOWAS… is a goldmine waiting to be explored.

Uzoka is a public affairs analyst based in Lagos.