ECOWAS — beyond the glitter of new edifices

President Bola Tinubu’s ribbon-cutting for a gleaming new ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja offered a flattering image of ambition — but brick and glass do not heal the fractures that threaten the community’s very purpose. Fifty-one years after its founding in 1975 in Lagos to promote economic integration, collective security, free movement and democratic stability across West Africa, ECOWAS today is severely diminished by the absence of trust and political will.

That trust was rent asunder when, under President Bola Tinubu’s tenure as Council Chairman, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger abandoned the bloc to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a rupture precipitated largely by the ill-advised posture that led Nigeria, at Western prompting, to contemplate military intervention in Niger. The split severely set ECOWAS back from its founding objectives.

The blueprint of 1975 and subsequent charters reiterated the removal of barriers to trade and movement, harmonised policies for economic development, collective response to threats to constitutional order and institutions that adjudicate disputes and uphold rights. Instead of advancing those goals, recent years have seen fragmentation of membership, weakening enforcement of common decisions, and mounting scepticism among citizens about whether ECOWAS serves their interests or foreign agendas.

The result is a regional body that looks impressive in photographs but struggles to deliver the basic public goods. It is particularly disheartening that prominent members repeatedly ignore the ECOWAS Court’s rulings, undermining the rule-based order that gives the Court its legitimacy. When verdicts handed down in Abuja are treated as optional, the Court becomes a symbolic ornament rather than a mechanism for justice. This erosion of legal authority corrodes the foundations of integration and emboldens recalcitrant actors.

Looking forward, ECOWAS must prioritise substance over ceremony. Leaders should pursue concrete measures to rebuild trust: immediate, credible steps to engage with the breakaway Sahel states through neutral mediation, a clear timetable for reinstating an inclusive membership framework, and a renewed commitment to implement Court decisions with domestic legislation and enforcement.

Economic integration should be the engine of reconciliation — remove tariffs, harmonise transit and customs procedures, invest jointly in regional infrastructure and industrial value chains that keep jobs and wealth inside West Africa. Security cooperation must be upgraded not as a pretext for interventions but as a genuine partnership to counter the spread of ISIS and other global jihadist terror groups converging on the Sahel, combining intelligence sharing, border management and community-based counter-radicalisationprogrammes.

Nigeria — blessed with resources and diplomatic weight — must lead with prudence and respect for regional legal institutions. Building palaces for ECOWAS is easy; rebuilding the invisible architecture of trust, rule of law and shared purpose requires resolve, humility and sustained action.

To live up to the European Union ideal of integrated prosperity, ECOWAS must keep promises and prioritise regional unity and security.

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