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ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES AT FORTY-FIVE: 

A FOOL AT FORTY-FIVE A FOOL FOREVER? 

 
Victor Chijioke Nwosumba  

E-mail: vcnwosumba@gmail.com;  victor.nwosumba@funai.edu.ng    

Department of Political Science 

Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu- Alike, Ikwo Ebonyi State 

 

Abstract 

Amid COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the year 2020, Economic Community of West African 

States hereafter called ECOWAS quietly celebrated its forty-five years of establishment. Widely, 

much was not heard of or written about the community probably due to the challenges of the 

pandemic. However, the address of the President of ECOWAS Commission to the staff of 

ECOWAS institutions on the occasion of the commemoration of the community's forty-fifth 

anniversary serves as a reminder that attention should also be given to this regional giant against 

all odds. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to celebrate ECOWAS at forty-five and then examine 

whether it is a fool at forty that is proverbially referred to as a fool forever. The paper, through 

thorough examination of the data collected from secondary sources finds that ECOWAS is still 

far from achieving its main mandate, its achievements as orchestrated by His Excellency, the 

President notwithstanding. The paper argues that the postponement of the establishment of ECO, 

a common currency for the region for the sixth time from 2020 to a yet to be announced date, 

lack of realistic free movement of persons and goods among members and selfish interests of its 

leaders in the guise of national interest are enough reasons to conceive ECOWAS as a fool at 

forty-five. With the aid of constructivist theory, it concludes that even if ECOWAS at forty-five is 

still fooling around it has the chances of not being a fool forever if the leaders should turn a new 

leaf and pursue the attainment of the community's mandate before its fiftieth anniversary. 

 

Keywords: ECO, ECOWAS, fool, fool at forty, free movement of persons and goods, mandate. 

 

Introduction 

Forty-five years ago, a regional 

organisation known as the Economic 

Community of West African States, 

herein known and referred to as 

ECOWAS was established. Precisely, 

ECOWAS was established on May 28, 

1975 in Lagos, Nigeria by West African 

States that had gained independence 

from their different colonial rulers by 

that time. Although the 1975 treaty 

signed by the member-states in Lagos 

marked the starting off of ECOWAS, the 

protocol of association was actually 

signed in 1976. At inception, the 

member-states of ECOWAS were 

Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, 

Benin Republic, Liberia, the Gambia, 

Cote D’voire, Mali, Guinea Bissau, 

Mauritania, Niger Republic, Senegal, 

Sierra Leone and Guinea and Cape 

Verde (Joined 1977). So, from May 28, 

1975 to May 28,2015, ECOWAS had 

attained the mature age of forty, the age 

believed by many that when anything 

human or inhuman attains should be 

mature not to talk about now it is forty-

five years on May 28, 2020. Thus, the 

 

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age of forty is associated with maturity 

and not adolescence. It implies therefore 

that even if one has fooled around for 

thirty-nine years, at a mature age of forty 

upward the person or thing should try to 

become more responsible and 

reasonable.  

 

The fact that the sub-regional economic 

organisation has not achieved the main 

mandate for which it was established is 

not in doubt, a reason which has made 

this paper to conceive it as a fool. A 

“fool” according to Hornby (2000:460), 

" is a person who you think behaves or 

speaks in a way that lacks intelligence or 

good judgment." Going by this 

definition, this paper personifies 

ECOWAS on the ground that since it is 

an organisation formed by human beings 

to help solve their problems of regional 

cooperation, integration and 

development and represents the 

collective aspiration of the West African 

peoples, it should not be treated from the 

abstract sense of view. In this view, 

ECOWAS is conceived to be a fool 

because it has behaved and spoke in a 

way that suggests that it lacks 

intelligence and good judgment. For 

example, in the address of His 

Excellency, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou. 

Thus, if the leaders of ECOWAS were 

determined to end the age-long barriers 

and bifurcations imposed on them by 

nature and from outside and establish a 

homogenous society which could 

enhance the people’s desire for 

cooperation, economic integration and 

political stability reasons for which the 

organisation was established among 

others, that would have made them to be 

accepted as being wise. Contrarily, 

today what West Africa is known for is 

more of political crises, economic 

backwardness, and colonial cleavages 

leading to lingual and monetary 

divisions as well as fragmentations of 

various kinds, restricted movement of 

people and goods from member states 

and projection of selfish interest of 

leaders in the guise of national interest. 

These challenges have persisted for 

more than forty years. At forty-five, the 

worst happened, that is, postponing the 

launch of the common currency for the 

region known as ECO for the sixth 

consecutive times. This is coupled with 

the protectionist strategy Nigeria 

adopted by closing its four land borders 

from August 2019 to December, 2020 

and Ghanaians' attacks on Nigerian 

traders in their homeland, actions that 

violate ECOWAS Protocol on the Free 

Movement of Persons and Goods. 

Against the foregoing, this paper argues 

that ECOWAS has been fooling around 

just as it is living in a fool’s paradise and 

as such, has made the prospect of 

genuine integration in the region to look 

very bleak. 

 

Earlier, Daddieh (1993) has revealed 

that a careful review of the literature on 

regionalism in Africa has suggested that 

regional integration suffers some 

setbacks due to many internal and 

external factors. Using West Africa as an 

example, he argues that agricultural 

trade which has the potential to facilitate 

the meeting of basic needs of the people 

of the region and infect the region with 



 

 

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the spirit of cooperation has been 

hampered by a combination of indequate 

transport system, agricultural pricing 

and marketing for eg policies pursued by 

some countries. In addition, the love and 

protection of sovereignty of state by 

most West African States is a major 

impediment for ECOWAS (Ede, 2011) 

in achieving a truly functional regional 

integration as expected by the founders. 

Okogba (2020) in line with these facts 

writes that most African countries have 

abandoned the brotherhood template 

that Nigeria used to project while 

pursuing the interests of their citizens, a 

strategy he says that politicians (e g., 

Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo) have 

leveraged to promote their electoral 

chances. 

 

However, despite what might be the 

reasons for ECOWAS’ failure namely; 

internal and external forces, this paper is 

of the opinion that it is still to be 

regarded as a fool because of knowing 

what is needed to save the sub-region 

and its peoples from the molestations of 

being one of the world’s most backward 

and least developed areas but refused to 

do it. ECOWAS member states are too 

protective of their sovereignty in the 

face of a globalisation era when erosion 

of state sovereignty is already in place 

and regional integration is becoming 

more important especially for the 

disadvantaged, vulnerable and small 

economies.  In this sense, a fool is also 

regarded as one who knows what to do 

that is right but fails to do it and rather 

gives excuses. For instance, the 

establishment of a common currency 

called the ECO for all member states as 

envisioned by ECOWAS a long time 

ago has not come to fruition even in the 

year 2020 when it was highly hoped to 

be adopted after its last postponement in 

2014 notwithstanding the benefit it will 

attract. EUEURO's success is an 

example of how a successful common 

currency can be of benefits to member 

states in a region the Brexit saga 

notwithstanding. The potential of a 

successful common currency in the 

process of regional integration cannot be 

overstated. 

 

Against this backdrop, the paper argues 

that ECOWAS should stop fooling 

around and be serious as a body charged 

with the responsibilities of fostering 

functional co-operation, economic 

integration and political stability among 

the peoples, the triple needs hoped by 

the founders of the community that if 

met should enable the region overcome 

the following disadvantages: smallness 

in size by some states, unequal natural 

and human resources endowment, 

colonial fragmentation and over 

dependency. Should ECOWAS achieve 

this, it is then that it shall be able to 

exploit the economies of scale, achieve 

greater rate of economic growth and 

development. On this basis, the main 

issues raised here are from this point 

going to be addressed in details. 

 

Methodology 

The research is designed in a way that 

the data used is collected from 

secondary sources. The interpretation of 

the obtained data is done through critical 



 

 

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content analysis based on their face 

value. Taking a behavioural science 

tradition, the analysis is also enhanced 

by the everyday knowledge of the 

researcher on issues that border on 

regional integration in Africa and some 

other parts of the world, especially 

Europe where the success of the 

European Union and the juxtaposing 

Brexit saga is a matter of interest for 

researchers on international relations. It, 

therefore, means that the data collected 

and analysed are drawn from the print 

and electronic media for instance, books, 

journal articles, the internet, television 

and their like. 

 

Who is a fool? 

Fool, as a noun means a silly or stupid 

weak-minded person who lacks 

judgment or sense (the American 

Heritage Idiom Dictionary, 2002). 

According to Cambridge Dictionary 

(http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction

ary/english/fool) fool is a person who 

behaves in a way without thinking. 

Institute in Basic Life Principles (2014) 

in approaching the explanation of who a 

fool is adopts five typologies namely; 

the simple fool, the silly fool, the sensual 

fool, the scorning fool and the steadfast 

fool. 

(1) The simple fool as the Institute 

explains, opens his/her mind to any 

passing thought and opens his/her 

arms to any passing stranger. In 

other words, he/she lacks 

discernment. He/she also has 

simplified view of life and fails to 

recognize cause-and-effect 

sequences that affect every area of 

life. Because the simple fool is not 

discerning, he/she is easily 

captivated by all kinds of 

enticements and deceptions. He is 

dangerously immature extremely 

gullible, and intensely curious. In the 

absence of instruction and consistent 

discipline, the simple fool will 

naturally become more foolish. A 

simple fool is especially vulnerable. 

 

However, to act or play the fool simply 

means to behave in a stupid way in order 

to make people laugh, especially in a 

way that may also annoy them. An 

example of how to use the word in this 

sense can be seen when one says “quit 

playing the fool and get some work 

done” (Hornby, 2000:460). Based on the 

foregoing attempt at clarifying the term 

“fool” there is no gainsaying the fact that 

ECOWAS has been fooling around and 

as well, living in a fool’s paradise. This 

is so because when a human being for 

example is born, he/she is expected to 

have stipulated periods of crawling, 

standing, throwing legs, walking and 

eventually running. After this period, the 

child grows through the stage of 

childhood to puberty and then, 

adulthood. Within these periods and 

stages, the human being is expected to 

play roles according to his/her age and 

gender. It is natural that a man should 

behave like a man and not like a boy 

because if a man in turn behaves like a 

boy, he is not only a fool but a compound 

fool. A man agreeably is a man only 

when he matures in character and action. 

 

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This is in line with the popular English 

old proverb that a fool at forty is a fool 

forever which simply means that if a 

person hasn’t become mature by the age 

of forty, he never wills (Learn English 

Today, www.learn-english-today.com). 

Sorious Samura in Addison (2008) in 

accord with the foregoing writes; 

where I come from West Africa, we 

have a saying:  A fool at 40 is a fool 

forever,” and most African countries 

have now been independent for 40 

years. Most are blessed with all the 

elements to help compete on a global 

stage…. And yet today, my 

continent which is home to 10% of 

the world’s population represents 

just 1% of global trade. I have no 

doubt we have to take responsibility 

of our failures”   

 

Although this paper agrees that 

ECOWAS by extension is a failure to a 

large extent and so a fool at forty and 

now forty-five, it argues that it may not 

be a fool forever if it stops fooling 

around. At forty-five years, ECOWAS, 

like a fully-fledged man, has become 

fully mature and so, is expected 

naturally to stop fooling around; to stop 

playing the fool. To buttress this fact, 

former President Obasanjo in his 

Independence Day address in October 

2000 reiterates that;  

in most cultures and societies, the 

fortieth birthday is a significant 

landmark in any person’s life.  

Any man or woman who reaches 

40years of age is judged to be truly 

mature, and worthy of being 

entrusted with sacred 

responsibilities. At forty: 

 It is time to part with youthful 

pursuits and settle to a life of 

reasonableness, decency, good 

family values, good citizenship and 

leadership; 

 It is also a time to henceforth enjoin 

the good and eschew the evils; 

 And it is the age to be realistic, 

candid and to abandon deceiving 

oneself and others (Dawodu, 2015). 

 

At forty not to talk about forty-five 

years, ECOWAS, like a full fledge man, 

has become fully mature and so is 

expected naturally, to quit playing the 

fool. The constructivist theory as shall 

be discussed below offers the solution 

ECOWAS may be waiting for. 

 

Theoretical Connection to the study 

This study is connected to constructivist 

theory, a relatively new theory in 

International Relations (IR). For decades 

before the end of the Cold War, the 

theory of IR has been dominated by two 

traditional approaches namely, realism 

and liberalism thereby making 

constructivist theory to be marginalized 

(Zhan, 2020). The marginalisation as 

Barkin (2017cited in Zhan, 2020) 

observes is as a result of these 

mainstream theories seeing 

constructivism as focusing on social 

construction instead of material 

construction. Following the collapse of 

the USSR and end of the Cold War as 

observed by Hopf (1998 cited in Zhan, 

2020), a turning point came when people 

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in the late 1980's started to reconsider 

the explanatory ability of the 

mainstream theories which 

consequently generated some debates. 

Lapid (2007) following the debates 

observes further that the development of 

Alexander Wendt's constructivist theory 

at this point gained attention and began 

to stand out. It should be noted here that 

Wendt's (1992) article is on "Anarchy is 

what states make out of it: the social 

construction of power politics." 

According to Wendt in this article, the 

claim that international institutions can 

transform state interests is central to 

neoliberal challenges to the realist 

assumption that "process" (interaction 

and learning among states) cannot 

fundamentally affect system "structure" 

(anarchy and the distribution of 

capabilities); systematic development of 

this claim, however, has been hampered 

by the neoliberals' commitment to 

rational choice theory, which treats 

interests as exogenously given and thus 

offers a weak form of institutional 

analysis. Wendt further stresses that a 

growing body of IR scholarship points to 

ways in which the identities and interests 

of states are socially constructed by 

knowledge practices. As contained in 

the abstract section, the article builds a 

bridge between this scholarship and 

neoliberalism by developing a theory of 

identities - and interest - formation in 

support of the neoliberal further claim 

that international institutions can 

transform state interests (Wendt, 1992). 

Wendt's (1999) work on "Social Theory 

of International Politics" further helped 

to consolidate the development of 

constructivist theory (Zhan, 2020). 

Since then many works on the theory 

have found their way into modern 

literature on International Relations (eg. 

Alder, 1997; Barkin, 2009; Chukwu, 

Nwogbaga & Nkwede, 2016; Zhan, 

2020) but only a few of them have 

looked into issues pertaining to 

ECOWAS for example, Effoduh (2017). 

However, this gap remains to be filled. 

 

The relevance of this theory therefore 

sits on the fact that more contemporary 

issues on ECOWAS need to be 

discussed, analysed and examined 

through the lens of the constructivists. 

With the aid of the constructivist theory, 

examining ECOWAS at forty-five years 

of existing as a human association is 

germaine and apt. This is considering the 

fact that although Alexander Wendt as 

discussed by Zhan (2020) points out that 

the structures of human association are 

constructed by material forces, he 

disagrees with the notion that the 

structures of human association are 

constructed by material phenomena as 

defined by the theories of neorealism 

and neoliberalism. Notably, ECOWAS 

is a human association that is socially 

constructed by the actors and so 

deserves to be examined and advised 

using the constructivist theory as an 

instrument. Wendt in furtherance of his 

theory indicates that shared ideas are the 

most important elements in IR (Zhan, 

2020), a point Alder (1997) amplified by 

adding that the key tenet of 

constructivism is the belief that 

international politics is shaped by 

persuasive ideas, collective values, 



 

 

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culture and social identities which 

according to Chukwu, Nwogbaga & 

Nkwede (2016) define actors' interests, 

identities and perceptions of the world. 

To Wendt as captured by Zhan (2020), 

the actions of actors are also influenced 

by shared ideas and as such, the actions 

of actors depend on their interests. "The 

constructivists have a strong belief that 

shared ideas and experiences through 

communicative strategies could produce 

change in the identity and interest of 

actors" (Chukwu, Nwogbaga & 

Nkwede, 2016 p. 135). However, Risse 

et al (1999), as cited in Chukwu, 

Nwogbaga & Nkwede (2016) are of the 

view that institutionalised norms and 

ideas are seen shaping actors' identities 

and interests through three mechanisms 

namely; imagination, communication 

and constraints. In the realm of 

communication, an actor as emphasized 

by the trio can justify to others his 

actions by exhuming the spirit of norms 

in defense of such an action. In this case, 

for instance, Nigeria's claim that its 

closure of the four land boundaries 

between August 2019 and December 

2020 bordering it and some of its West 

African contiguous states is to 

checkmate debilitating smuggling 

activities that negatively impact its 

economy can be justified and not 

misconceived as being a deliberate act of 

inhibition to the ECOWAS Protocol on 

Free Movement of Persons and Goods. 

This is good for Nigeria's interest but 

remotely against the objective of 

ECOWAS in achieving its lofty 

ambition of removing all barriers to free 

trade and movement of persons. In fact, 

Nigeria's border closure as argued by 

Okogba (2020) implies extreme 

protectionist measure just as Ghana's 

policy of $1 million needed by 

foreigners including Nigerians in their 

account before being allowed to trade in 

Ghana.  

 

Regional Integration 

Regional integration according to 

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

(https://en.wikipedia.org) is a process in 

which neighbouring states enter into an 

agreement in order to upgrade 

cooperation through common 

institutions and rules. By extension, it is 

a process by which two or more nation – 

states agree to cooperate and work 

closely together to achieve peace, 

stability and wealth 

(Carleton.ca/ces/enlearning/introductio

n/extension-what-is-regional 

integration) In a similar vein UNECA 

(2016) summarizes regional integration 

as a key strategy for development and 

intra-regional trade which are expected 

to produce considerable economic gains. 

Further, regional integration is about 

overcoming barrier between countries 

and managing cross – border issues.  

Based on the foregoing clarification 

attempts, regional integration has been 

conceived as requiring the co-operation 

of the member states that are in an 

organisation and or grouping to pursue 

common goals be they economic, 

political, military or any other purpose. 

 

The 20th century undoubtedly, was the 

century of regional integration 

considering the fact that many regional 

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groupings emerged following the 

realisation by many regions that regional 

co-operation has become an 

indispensable feature of contemporary 

international relations. According to 

Thronhill (1972), interest in regionalism 

has ebbed and flowed since 1945, 

sometimes as a kind of gravitational 

response to proposals for local 

government reforms, sometimes for a 

variety of other reasons. To him, 

concern with regionalism can arise from 

diverse causes as the arrangement for the 

devolution of power from central 

government, the work of a number of 

geographers, and a large number of ad-

hoc solutions to particular problems; too 

often, the regional solution has been an 

escape from existing unsatisfactory 

arrangements. 

 

In the same vein, Ofoegbu (1980) is of 

the view that the growth of regional 

integration is largely due to many factors 

of which the most important are the 

growth in the size of the international 

system, multiplicity of roles and the 

functional demands for structural 

changes within the international system, 

a point that helps to justify the choice of 

constructivist theory for this paper. 

Wendt's (1992) and Zhan (2020) works 

have thrown their weight in support of 

the fact that power politics in 

International Relations can be socially 

constructed since anarchy for instance is 

what states make of it. This is also as a 

result of decolonisation, a process which 

triggered the growth of regional 

consciousness and cooperative efforts. 

Another reason for regional integration 

as identified by Deutsche et.al (1957) is 

that even if regionalism is unlimited, that 

is, if it does not operate solely on the 

matrix of functional co-operation, it 

seeks political unification; it progresses 

towards and induces loss of national 

sovereignties and the emergence, out of 

these, of a new and all-embracing 

regional sovereignty. 

 

Following from this, integrational and 

co-operative efforts were made in 

Europe, Latin America, Africa and most 

other places in the world before the end 

of the 20th century. These include but are 

not restricted to European Economic 

Community (later European Union), 

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 

(NATO), defunct WARSAW Pact, West 

African Economic Community (CEAO), 

Central African Customs and Economic 

Union (UDEA), Southern African 

Customs Union (SACU), Southern 

African Development Co-ordination 

Conference (SADCC), Economic 

Community of West African States 

(ECOWAS, the subject of discussion in 

this chapter). As far back as 1989, about 

200 functional integration scheme were 

in existence (Daddier, 1993). 

 

However, while there were these and 

other 20th century regional experiments 

and strategies, in the case of Africa as in 

some other regions, the gap between 

aspiration and achievements remain 

wide. In other words, in as much as 

various integrational efforts and the zeal 

to co-operate in practice have been 

made, little achievement is on ground in 

Africa in particular, a situation that 



 

 

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makes the search for more functional 

and achieving strategies imperative. As 

such, ECOWAS is one of the regional 

integrational and co-operative strategies 

of the 20th century which is still 

operational in the 21st century. 

 

Background to ECOWAS Formation 

Before the creation of ECOWAS, the 

collective territory known as West 

Africa, from a regional point of view, 

was made up of an aggregation of states 

that had emerged from different colonial 

experiences and administrations which 

largely defined the boundaries of the 15 

states domiciled in the area. However, 

since the attainment of independence 

especially in the 1960s, African leaders 

have consistently reaffirmed their desire 

to forge mutually beneficial economic 

and political linkages in order to 

enhance the continents development 

prospects and promote the well-being of 

their people. The quest for greater co-

operation has led to the creation of a 

dense network of regional and sub-

regional organizations that makes Africa 

the premier arena for regional 

experimentation in the world (Daddier, 

1993). 

 

Nevertheless, history has it that efforts 

establishing a functional sub-regional 

co-operative body in West Africa could 

be dated to the period 1957 to 1965 when 

its political and legal foundations were 

laid (Ofoegbu, 1980). According to the 

author, it was within that period that 

technical and administrative experts met 

at Segou, Mamou, Dakar, Naimey, 

Bamako, Monrovia, Lagos and Accra, 

and as a result of these meetings, 

Economic Commission for Africa, ECA 

as well as expert working parties and 

consultants appointed undertook 

detailed studies which covered customs 

administration, transformation, credit 

coordination and the economic 

development of international river and 

lake basins in West Africa. The outcome 

of this step is that: 

The technical experts and 

administrators were successful. 

They achieved understanding among 

themselves and were no longer in 

doubt of the use – fulness and need 

for limited integration. . .  These 

experts proceeded from here to 

convince their political leaders to 

allow certain activities and state 

functions to be selected and 

organized (Ofoegbu, 1980:89). 

 

The achievements made out of this first 

step, as Hodgkin and Schachter (1960) 

observe is that a West African feeling 

was created. As such, the prospects for 

regional co-operation became brighter.  

Following this new West African 

consciousness, the early “West African” 

African leaders and followers of the 

Aborigine Rights Protection Society, 

National Congress for British West 

Arica and inter-territorialists in the 

former Africque Occidental Francaise 

disappeared from political influence and 

power in West Africa (Hodgkin and 

Schachter, 1960; Ofoegbu, 1980).  

 

Thus, the bureaucrats and technocrats 

who helped to chart the course of 

regional integration in West Africa from 



 

 

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this time became new West Africans. 

Like everything that has good and bad 

sides, these new integrationists 

encountered some stumbling blocks on 

their way to forming ECOWAS not 

minding the good intension they had for 

the people of the sub-region. This 

manifested in the way and manner some 

political leaders who had territorial and 

national rather than inter-territorial 

interests misconceived the movement. 

However, this misconception was borne 

out of the quest by most nationalists and 

political leaders to create their individual 

national identities and as well, protect 

and exercise national sovereignties since 

most of them had just won political 

independence from their different 

colonial masters. As we shall see in the 

proceeding sections, this fear of losing 

one’s national identity and sovereignty 

has largely contributed to derailing the 

effort of ECOWAS in achieving its set 

objectives and aims to a large extent. 

 

At this juncture, it is necessary to point 

out the fact that ECOWAS, following 

the background information and facts 

given so far was eventually borne out of 

the desire of the people of West Africa 

who had longed for regional co-

operation at a more functional and 

effective level in order to collectively 

attack the enduring problems of 

underdevelopment and disunity in the 

region. From Nigeria to Togo, from 

Niger to Ghana and so on, evidence 

abounds that the yearning of the people 

was and are still the same; they wanted 

(and still want) to be helped out of the 

valley of abject poverty, food insecurity, 

backwardness etc. Lending credence to 

this fact, Ofoegbu (1980) and Isichei 

(1977) agree that the new consciousness 

led to the formation of Ghana-Mali-

Guinea Union, the Niamey Act and 

Niamey Agreement that established the 

River Niger Commission; the treaties 

which established the Chad Basin 

Commission among many others. Also, 

between 1957 and the early 1970, the 

people of West Africa due to this new 

awareness, embraced some other areas 

of co-operation for example, during 

conferences in Accra and Darkar 

respectively, West African working 

parties and the Economic Community of 

Africa examined the magnitude of the 

problems of the people of the region and 

developed policy action papers based on 

the concept of regional co-operation. 

West African industrial co-ordination 

conferences were also held at Bamako 

and Monrovia within the same period. 

 

In all, these conferences concentrated on 

four key industries: iron and steel 

chemicals and fertilizers, textiles and 

cement and as well assessed the needs of 

West Africa as a region, projected these 

into the future, analysed the productive 

capacity of the region, designed 

industrial co-ordination strategies that 

could meet the perceived and projected 

needs of the region, and do these without 

depending on imports (Ofoegbu, 1965). 

By and large, whether the foregoing 

efforts at West Africa’s functional co-

operation are appreciated or not, the fact 

remains that they culminated to laying 

the foundation for the establishment of 



 

 

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the sub-regional body known as 

ECOWAS. 

 

At the peak of these efforts at West 

African States’ integration, General 

Yakubu Gowon the former Nigerian 

head of state and his Togolese 

counterpart, General Gnassingbe 

Eyadema toured the region in support of 

the integration idea in 1972. Eventually, 

the drafts that emanated from their 

efforts formed the basis for the 

emergence of the treaty of Lagos in 1975 

which gave birth to ECOWAS 

(ECOWAS, 

http://ecoslate.github.io/about-

ecowas/history/index/htm). 

 

ECOWAS since 1975 

History was made eventually on the 28th 

May, 1975 when fifteen West African 

States namely; Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, 

Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea 

Bissau, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin 

Republic, Senegal, Cote d’ivore, 

Gambia, Mauritania, signed the treaty 

that established the Economic 

Community of West African States in 

Lagos, Nigeria. By this time, Lagos was 

the capital of Nigeria and so 

automatically became the headquarters 

of the Organisation until when Abuja 

was made the new capital city. Today, 

the headquarters of ECOWAS is situated 

in Abuja, Nigeria. 

 

Another interesting thing is that while 

the treaty establishing ECOWAS was 

signed in 1975, its protocol of 

association was actually signed in 1976. 

Following this, ECOWAS was 

strengthened with a set of protocols, a 

fund, a secretariat and regular meetings 

of leaders and officials twenty-two years 

later that is, from 1993 to 2015 after the 

revised treaty or better put, forty years 

after the Lagos treaty of 1975 that 

established ECOWAS, the Community 

has not been able to deliver the goods 

expected of it. The fact that West Africa 

remains underdeveloped, and in deep 

economic and political crises, more 

fragmented and unable to feed its people 

underscores the reason for branding 

ECOWAS a fool at forty. At best, 

ECOWAS can be labeled a toothless 

bull dog. 

 

Interestingly in 1977, Cape Verde joined 

ECOWAS as a member state thereby 

making the members of community to 

rise to sixteen (16) but in 2002, one of 

the foundation members, Mauritania 

withdrew its membership. By this, the 

members of ECOWAS have remained 

fifteen (15) since then: Nigeria, Niger, 

Benin, Gambia, Burkinna Faso, Cape 

Verde, Togo, Ivory Coast, Guinea, 

Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, 

Senegal, Ghana, Mali. 

 

To achieve its goals, ECOWAS, from its 

foundation also has set numerous short-

term objectives which include: 

elimination of customs duties, 

abolishment of trade restrictions, 

establishment of a common tariff, and 

coordination of economic, industrial and 

monetary policies. ECOWAS Forum, 

2016). According to this author, there 

were also plans for allowing the free 

movement of labour, goods, and capital 

http://ecoslate.github.io/about-ecowas/history/index/htm
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Economic Community of West African States at Forty-Five: A Fool at Forty-Five a Fool Forever? 

Victor Chijioke Nwosumba  

 

on an intra-community level; Common 

infrastructure development projects, 

Broad plans for economic, political and 

monetary integration. 

 

In fact, as Adebisi (2007) summarises, 

the community sought in addition to 

harmonise agricultural policies, 

establish a common tariff for external 

trade and commercial policy towards 

two thirds states. 

  

However, eighteen years later, precisely 

in 1993, ECOWAS revised its treaty in 

order to reposition itself to face 

emerging global challenges following 

the melting down of the Cold War that 

was prevalent at the time of its 

establishment in 1975 and to be able to 

spur economic integration and political 

co-operation in the sub-region. In a 

nutshell, the revised ECOWAS treaty of 

1993 aims to achieve for the sub-region 

an economic union which is the peak 

level of its target. In addition, ECOWAS 

aims not only to establish itself as a 

hegemonic economic community in 

West Africa for the purpose of economic 

integration but as well according to 

Adetula (2005) to extend integration to 

other sectors such as politics, security 

and physical infrastructure. 

Is ECOWAS Factually a Fool? 

Having personified ECOWAS in this 

work, it is necessary to refer to Napoli, 

Kilbride and Tebbs (1988) definition of 

personality; 

… as the individual’s unique and 

dynamic pattern of thoughts, feeling 

and actions. Most Psychologists 

agree that at least three 

characteristics of personality should 

be taken into account: uniqueness 

(no two personalities are exactly 

alike), adaptability (personality 

change) is not just a collection of 

behavior, it is a patterned response to 

the environment that shows some 

degree of consistency 

 

In applying this definition here, 

ECOWAS as an organization is 

therefore conceived as a collection of 

behavioural as well as a patterned 

response to the environment. That 

ECOWAS is a community of states and 

not community of people (Akinterinwa, 

2015) goes a long way to justify that it is 

a sub- regional body and not a body of 

people. As such the behavior of 

ECOWAS is a collection of the 

behaviour of the member states as well 

as a patterned response to the West 

African Environment that is somehow 

consistent. For example, West Africa is 

a region of many states with different 

colonial experiences and masters 

namely, those of the British West 

African, French and Portuguese 

backgrounds; different natural resources 

endowment different institutional and 

administrative systems. Implicitly, 

while Nigeria at one end is richly 

endowed with enormous resources, 

Burkina Faso at the other end is 

endowed with poor human and natural 

resources. These remarkable differences 

significantly and consistently determine 

the sub-regional relations of people and 

states, a condition which further 

constraints and hampers meaningful 

participation of member states in 



 

 

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ECOWAS Economic integration 

programmes.  

 

Reacting to this situation, Akinteriwa 

(2015) on Good Morning Nigeria 

Programme, during a discussion on 

ECOWAS at forty bemoans the 

community for remaining a community 

of states and not community of peoples. 

His view is that if ECOWAS were wise 

it should have by its forty years of 

existence transformed into a community 

of people that is, putting in full practice 

the policy of free movement of people in 

place. If ECOWAS were wise and 

sensible, it should have known that 

mobility of factors of production within 

the region is very significant to the 

achievement of its economic 

integrational goal.  

 

By being a fool, though a simple fool 

institute in Basic Life Principles, 2014 

has given a simple fool as one of the 

typologies of a fool), ECOWAS has 

forgotten that one of the reasons for 

establishing it was mainly to foster unity 

among the peoples of the sub-region 

such that most identified areas of 

bifurcations and altercation to their 

growth, development and wellbeing 

could be eliminated. Even when it has 

adopted the protocol on Free Movement 

of Persons, Residence and 

Establishment signed since May 29, 

1979, which came into effect since 1980 

Iornumbe and Apinean, 2014), free 

movement of persons and by extension 

goods have not been free. Thus, Daddier 

(1993) while citing a World Bank report 

of 1989 concurs that boarder checks and 

unduly complex transit procedures cause 

long waiting periods that reduce 

intraregional trade and contribute to high 

cost of doing business in the region. 

However, while ECOWAS believes in 

achieving community citizenship for 

citizens of member states as well as 

enhancing the smooth operation of the 

protocol towards achieving free 

movement of people’s goals and 

services, it has launched 

 ECOWAS Travel Certificate (ETC) 

 ECOWAS Passport (ECOPASS) 

 ECOWAS Liability Insurance Card 

(ELIC) 

 ECOWAS Brown Card Motor 

Vehicle 

 Insurance Scheme (EBCMVIS) 

(Iornumpe and Apinean, 2014) 

 

These are major strategies that if 

adopted could enhance integrational 

migration and then boost integrational 

effort but like a simple fool who in the 

view of Institute in Basic Life Principle 

(2014), naturally becomes more foolish 

in the absence of instruction and 

consistent discipline, ECOWAS lacks 

the political will to implement the 

protocol. Several restrictions from 

members states as identified by Adetula 

(2005) such as immigration laws, 

investment codes indigenization policies 

and programmes vitiated meaningful 

efforts toward the implementation. 

Some other internal contradiction in the 

protocol, no doubt also contributes to its 

non- implementation. The implications 

of this failure are far-reaching especially 

as the lead to citizenship and 



 

 

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Victor Chijioke Nwosumba  

 

indigenization crises in the sub- region. 

The recent attacks on Nigerians living in 

Ghana is a byproduct of the non- 

implementation of ECOWAS Protocol 

on Free Movement of Persons, 

Residence and Establishment.  

 

Flowing down from this point is the fact 

that as a simple fool waiting to be 

instructed and consistently disciplined 

before being wise, ECOWAS would 

have implemented the above Protocol to 

the letter if the former Colonial Over 

lords especially Finance, had instructed 

and consistently disciplined them. Take 

for instance how the issue of having a 

common currency has been a serious 

challenge to ECOWAS; Member states 

especially those of francophone zone 

prefer maintaining close ties with France 

through monetary cooperation and other 

means. Thus, the Francophone countries 

in spite of their colonial experiences 

with France continued pegging their 

currencies to that of France (CFA Franc) 

well into the 1990s (Ede, 2011). 

However, while there are national 

currencies for most ECOWAS states 

some also use other foreign currencies 

such as Escudo for Cape Verde, Dollar 

for Liberia and CFA Franc for most 

Francophone states. All these, coupled 

with some fear of loss of national 

sovereignty have contributed to 

hampering the achievement of a single 

currency in the sub- region, a feat if 

achieved would enhance cross- border 

economic links and then make regional 

and external trading easier, cheaper and 

less risky. That ECO project (ECO is the 

name given to the expected single 

currency if achieved) has not 

materialised in the year 2020 is a thing 

of concern. 

 

Like most other projects, programmes 

and strategies conceived and initiated by 

ECOWAS that are still in the pipeline or 

abandoned midway, the date for the 

actual establishment or achievement of a 

single currency (ECO) in West Africa 

has been postponed from 2003 to 2005, 

2010, 2014 to 2020 and now to an 

unspecified year. Based on these 

postponements Thisday Newspapers 

(2016) concludes that ECOWAS single 

currency project is an illusion. Thisday 

further refers to the project as another 

self- deceiving project. On this note, 

ECOWAS is a fool (though a simple 

fool) at forty by leading a life of self-

deceit because as a mature organization 

it should stop fooling around. Based on 

this ECO issue, Thisday writes; 

The plan had been based on a degree 

of economic sanity and progressive 

integration of extant national 

interests that are nowhere near what 

is needed to create a common 

currency. That nothing of such 

happened has made many to laugh 

off the latest claim of “notable 

progress” in that direction, 

especially coming at a time the 

European Union (EU) seems to be 

unraveling   with the United 

Kingdom now exiting (This day, 

2016). 

Now that ECO has been achieved 

 

 

 



 

 

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Conclusion and Recommendations 

This quotation and other facts above, to 

say the obvious help us to conclude that 

ECOWAS is indeed a fool because it is 

behaving in a stupid way that makes 

people laugh and even get annoyed. It 

therefore means that one who knows 

what to do to be better but fails to do it 

until it is late is a fool. This is true in the 

case of ECOWAS because of the 

journey to its formation which had 

started since 1957 or even earlier down 

to 1975 when it was eventually 

established and forty years plus since its 

establishment it has not achieved its 

goals, it can best be described as a 

toothless bulldog, it has teeth but cannot 

really bite. Imagine the enormous 

potentials of West Africa – human and 

material resources with enormous 

agricultural potentials as well as human 

population if ECOWAS were wise, it 

should have concentrated on the 

harmonization of member states’ 

agricultural policies and achieving free 

movement of goods and people. If this 

had been achieved before now Ghana 

would not have been disturbing Nigerian 

business people in their homeland as it is 

presently or put differently, Nigeria 

would not have embarked on Ghana-

must-go project in the distant past. Be 

that as it is presently, it is difficult for 

this paper to agree that the establishment 

of the common currency, ECO is going 

to change ECOWAS from playing the 

fool. This is not to conclude sheepishly 

that it is impossible for ECO to succeed 

like the EURO. The fact is that ECO is 

possibly a veritable instrument of 

integration and development for West 

Africa only if the protection of state 

sovereignty by individual member-

states mostly for ethnic hegemonic and 

class tendencies and not purely on the 

excuses of national interest can be 

substantially reduced at this time smaller 

economies around the world are teaming 

up to withstand the demands of 

globalisation that are in favour of bigger 

economies. In addition, ECO's success is 

possible if the resurgence of economic 

nationalism in some parts of the world 

especially the case of Brexit will not 

confuse some countries in Africa to tow 

the same path. Nigeria for instance 

should not think of this notwithstanding 

its economic weight in the region as well 

as Ghana's present provocation due 

mainly for two reasons. One, the British 

pound is the most highly-rated currency 

in the world, a fact that encourages 

Britain to believe that it can succeed 

independently without the EU. Two, the 

existence of France in collaboration with 

its former colonies in West Africa 

should not be forgotten because if 

Nigeria should try to exit from 

ECOWAS for not benefiting 

commensurately ECO will collapse 

unlike the EURO which is most likely to 

retain its global weight even if Britain 

does not return to the Union. 

Furthermore, the suspicion of one 

country Nigeria, by most francophone 

members of establishing itself as the 

regional hegemony if given the chance 

should be eschewed. In conjunction with 

the foregoing, free movement of people 

from member countries' barrier should 

be removed for ECOWAS to achieve the 

economies of scale it was ab initio 



 

 

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Victor Chijioke Nwosumba  

 

established to achieve. That West Africa 

remains the home of military coups in 

the 21st century when military 

intervention in politics is considered by 

the drivers of the globalisation project as 

the first enemy of democracy, Mali 

being the latest, a home of a great 

number of wretched people, home of a 

great number of food insecure people 

and worst still, home of terrorism and 

other forms of social, economic and 

political disorder simply suggests that 

ECOWAS, no matter what might be its 

achievement, has greatly failed in its 

mission and the vision of its founding 

fathers. In fact, no matter what might be 

its impediments namely; colonial 

hangover, suspicion of one another of 

dominance, dependency, globalization, 

resource curse, ECOWAS should sit up 

and quit playing the fool and get work 

done. It is in doing this that it can avoid 

being a fool at forty who is a fool 

forever. If ECOWAS should continue 

doing things it has done since forty-five 

years ago the same way, it will continue 

to get the same result. ECOWAS leaders 

should as a matter of urgency, solve the 

problems of fragmentation and 

suspicion among members as well as 

restricted movement of people from the 

member countries, and most 

importantly, stop reinventing conflict 

and military coup in an era of democratic 

consolidation if it really aspires to 

achieve its aims. ECOWAS should 

remember that a house divided against 

itself can never stand.    

 

 

 

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