NIIA-KAS International Conference on ECOWAS at 50: Beyond a Brighter Future with Challenges

Bola A. Akinterinwa 

‘The NIIA-KAS-GIZ Conference on ECOWAS at 50: Democracy, Governance and Political Stability as Challenges’ was the title of the Vie Internationale of last week Sunday. It was a preview analysis of the conference based on the concept note given by the conference organisers. From the title, impression was given that the GIZ would be taking active part in the conference. However, the conference eventually took place on Tuesday, 20th and Wednesday, 21st May, 2025 as programmed, but without the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) which withdrew its participation. Consequently, for record purposes, it was only the NIIA, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) that organised the conference, which took place in an oxygenated rotunda and serene environment of the NIIA.

The organisation took place at a time of need, not because the ECOWAS is celebrating 50 years of existence on 28 May, 2025 but particularly because the Treaty establishing the ECOWAS was done in Lagos in 1975 and the celebration of the 50th anniversary is also taking place in Lagos. More important, the initiative to establish the ECOWAS was basically Gowonian and Nigerian. The dilemma with which the ECOWAS of today is currently faced was given birth to under the chairmanship of a Nigerian, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT). By implication, should an ECOWAS that was established on the basis of a Nigerian initiative be allowed to go into désuétude under Nigerian chairmanship? The popular opinion in Nigeria is that it is not proper to build a house and wait to witness its destruction. 

At the level of the preliminary discussions at the conference, General Gowon made it clear that Mauritania was part of the negotiations at the beginning, hence people talk about an ECOWAS of 16 members. True, Mauritania started with others and officially joined, but withdrew in 1999 because of ECOWAS’ opposition to governmental mistreatment of black African Mauritanians. Mauritania withdrew to join the Maghreb Union but this never solved its problem. Thus there were many issues to address in the past 50 years by the ECOWAS.

Issues Raised at the Conference

First, there was the question of how the ECOWAS started before the signing of the Treaty establishing the ECOWAS. As revealed by General Gowon at the conference, at the end of Nigeria’s civil war on 12 January, 1970, following the instrument of unconditional surrender by General Phillip Effiong, the government of General Yakubu Gowon felt the need to express gratitude to many countries in West Africa for their support for a united Nigeria. 

This appreciation should be understood against the background that the Gowonian government had sought the understanding and support of the British at the initial stage of the war, but to no avail. He again sought the support of the United States, but to no avail. This situation prompted Nigeria to seek the assistance of the then Soviet Union which was readily given in principle. Before any Soviet aid could be given, the British and the United States quickly reviewed their policy attitudes in an attempt to prevent their influence from being replaced by the Soviet Union. It is also useful to note that when talking about support, it was not about grant or humanitarian altruism. Nigeria wanted to purchase arms, weapons with which to prosecute the war. The British and the Americans refused to sell anything to Nigeria. It was the factor of the Cold War politics that eventually made them to see more clearly and to quickly accept to reverse their policy of refusal.

There was also the impact of the lessons from the then Dahomey (now Benin Republic) which was used by the International Red Cross to package weapons to be sent to Biafra under the pretext of humanitarian aid. The experiences largely informed the quest for sub-regional and regional unity, economic cooperation, and security. In this regard, General Gowon first carried along the Togolese leader, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma in the preparations. This was the background story of the preliminary discussions that led to the birth of the organisation on 28th May, 1975. But what has happened since then and what does the next 50 years look like? These are some of the questions addressed at the NIIA-KAS conference.

 A second issue was promptness of leaders and the younger generation. The prompt attendance of General (Dr) Yakubu Gowon and Professor Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi not only attracted much concern but was also specially commended. They attended promptly and also stayed in the 2-day conference from the beginning to the end while some of the younger conference participants were frolicking around. The elders showed exemplary discipline. It is important to also note that the multilingual, typical, and soft-spoken former Nigerian Foreign Minister, General Ike Nwachukwu, came with them and also stayed throughout. Discussions by participants focused on their quietness and very positive contributions. The unexpressed question on the lips of many participants was whether it was because of their military background. The answer cannot be yes because Professor Akinyemi was not of the soldiering background, which raises questions about how ECOWAS leaders behave today.

The third issue was whether the ECOWAS had passed or failed in the past 50 years.  The various paper presentations not only assessed ECOWAS of the past, but also investigated the ECOWAS of the future. Some believed the ECOWAS has failed in its mandate while some argued to the contrary. In fact, the participation of secondary school pupils from Kings College, Methodist Boys High School, and Holy Child made the conference more colourful with their debate on ECOWAS at 50. Some of the pupils argued convincingly that the organisation has failed in the achievement of its objectives and some also, with cogent reasons, said such an argument was not tenable, that the business of the ECOWAS was ongoing. The pupils were a source of sweet inspirations.

Fourthly, there was the reaffirmation by General Yakubu Gowon of his innocence about the unsuccessful 1976 Lieutenant-Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka Coup. The coup took the life of the Nigerian Head of State, the 37-year old General Murtala Muhammed, ‘along with his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, and his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika, in his black Mercedes on 13 February 1976.’ True, the bloodless General Murtala Muhammadu coup of 29 July, 1975 removed General Gowon from power. Very interestingly, the coup enabled General Murtala Muhammed, who is on record to have led the July 1966 counter-coup that brought the then Colonel Yakubu Gowon to power. He brought General Gowon to power in July 1966 and also removed him in 1975 while attending an OAU summit in Kampalla. In this case, the popular belief, rightly or wrongly, has been that the Dimka coup was sponsored by General Gowon. At the conference, General Gowon made it crystal clear that he was never instrumental to the coup.

Fifthly, and perhaps more disturbingly, there was the issue of the omnipresence of Nigerians in West African countries and lack of attitudinal culture among ECOWAS Community Citizens. Professor Ibrahim Abdulla of the University of Sierra Leone Logo, Freetown, presented a very good paper on “Cities, Citizenship and Marginal Others: Re imaging ECOWAS after 50 Years.’ However, interest in his paper vanished into thin air when his first opening utterance was ‘Jack.’ He was referring to General Yakubu Gowon who along with Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, had been consensually referred to as ‘Baba ECOWAS’ and ‘BABA Nigerian Foreign Policy,’ respectively.

Professor Abdulla did not just stop there by further clearly showing the audience that he consciously referred to General Gowon as Jack discourteously. Whenever everyone stood up to applaud Gowon, Professor Abdulla was always the only one sitting down. In fact, during his presentation, he said ‘if Nigeria is reasonable…’ By implication, he referred to Nigeria, as a country, as a people, as a culture, as a government, etc., as unreasonable. We duly protested against this. In fact, the disregard for General Gowon and Nigeria prompted many interventions on the role of Nigeria in ECOMOG II and how Nigeria saved the lives of many Sierra Leoneans. The tension was a bit high and to douse the tension, General Gowon, in his fatherly manner, asked Professor Abdulla to come to the centre of the rotunda to make peace. Ambassador Remi Ajibewa and Professor Bola A. Akinterinwa even went there on his behalf to prostrate before the two ‘Babas’ to plead that the attitude of Professor Abdulla should not be taken as an offence, but Professor Abdulla refused to bow down or prostrate in the Yoruba tradition. He was obstinate and General Gowon still forgave him. When this behaviour is considered at the level of intra-ECOWAS relationships, the issue of application of the principle of reciprocity in Nigeria’s foreign policy cannot but be always raised. Who respects Nigeria in West Africa or Africa? If Nigeria has a good standing and is duly respected, will the issue of expanding influence of great powers raised by Professor Alade Fawole arise?

Whatever is the case, the conference was designed to have an international character and it did have it. International scholars came from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Ghana and they all presented very thought-provoking. To what extent does this impact on ECOWAS future and the return of the AES countries?

Beyond a Brighter Future 

Going beyond the success or failure of the ECOWAS at 50 are many other critical questions to which the organisation must still address. First is how to relate with Russia in the foreseeable future. This issue is very critical for many reasons: His Excellency, Mr Weert Boerner, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Lagos, advised, not to say requested, in his remarks at the conference that the ECOWAS should never depend on Russia because the Russia of President Vladimir Putin is not ‘reliable.’ 

The advice or request raises more questions than one: does the interest of the ECOWAS as an organisation mean the same as that of Germany or the European Union in terms of relationship with Russia? Which faction of the ECOWAS should not depend on Russia? With the breakaway of the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) countries all of which currently enjoy the support of Russia, can they stop depending on Russia? If it is the ECOWAS of 12 countries that the Consul General had in mind, can the ECOWAS afford the luxury of hobnobbing with Germany or the European Union against the interests of the Member States of the regional organisation? 

One rationale for the current problem with which the ECOWAS is faced is the strategic miscalculation of underscoring unconstitutional changes of government to the detriment of the peoples’ complaints against the mainmise, exploitation, and disregard by the former colonial master, France. ECOWAS did nothing about bad governance which prompted public complaints and the people’s coups which the military only helped to actualise.

Perhaps more interestingly, many of the ECOWAS countries have cooperation agreements with Russia at the bilateral level. Consequently, it cannot but be unthinkable to expect that ECOWAS can stop relating with or depending on Russia. What Germany or the European Union can do to dissuade the ECOWAS organisationally or severally at the level of membership is to compete with Russia in the quest for resolving ECOWAS problems, especially the problems of the ASS countries.

And good enough, as reported on May 23, 2025 by the Deutsch Welle, Nigeria and Germany were to deepen their cooperation in the economic and migration sectors. The interest is in the area of expansion of trade in critical raw materials, addressing the challenges of migration through collaborative solutions, and energy partnerships. The German Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, said ‘we just want to deepen our cooperation… For both the European Union and Germany, the African continent is the continent of the future… There are an incredible number of opportunities… That is why we are looking to work with countries like Germany on structured solutions to job creation and to tackling the issues of irregular migration.’ This is one reason why the German Minister wants to encourage German private sector to be more actively engaged in Nigeria.

His Nigerian counterpart, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, nodded in agreement, emphasising that Germany has become the second largest trading partner of Nigeria in sub-Saharan Africa. In his words, ‘Nigeria is blessed with a lot of critical minerals… Projections show that by 2050 we’ll have 400 million people. What we are looking to do is not to export people but to export talent.’ Probably this is also how best to interpret and understand the German Consul General’s idea of not seeking to depend on Russia or Russia not being reliable. 

A second important issue beyond ECOWAS at 50 is the new scrambling for West Africa, with particular interest in the Sahel sub-region. It is a renewal of the old scrambling for Africa. This issue of new scrambling was raised in 2020 by Dr Reuben Abati in an interview with Professor Bola A. Akinterinwa during a section of The Morning Show on Arise News. True, Russia-Africa Summit was held in Sochi, Russia. Russia took advantage of the Sochi summit to begin the expansion of its influence in Africa. The expansion has not stopped and new comers are also showing greater interest in coming to Africa. This is what Professor Alade Fawole has rightly described as an expanding presence of foreign powers in the Sahel. 

Increasing foreign presence of foreign powers in the Sahel is related to Mr. Weert Boerner’s concerns about Russia. Mr. Boerner appears to want the West Africa region to remain an exclusive preserve of the West. However, Professor Fawole has noted that ‘this competitive great power rush into the Sahel is neither altruistic, nor has anything whatever to do with the interest of the region, nor could it even be remotely rationalised in the cynical colonial parlance of a civilising mission. It is instead to obtain access to the vital natural resources of the region… and in the process also gain strategic footholds in the ongoing repositioning for hegemonic dominance, especially in the wake of China’s developmental strides, its Belt and Road Initiatives, and its methodical employment of soft power resources across the globe and Russia’s resurgence and re-emergence into the great power club after two decades of absence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.’ 

Another important issue beyond the ECOWAS at 50 is the future of democracy, particularly in West Africa. A Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance was done in Dakar, Senegal in 2001 with the ultimate objective of strengthening democracy, and prevent unconstitutional changes of government. In this regard, the Protocol not only provided for principles of constitutional convergence aimed at promoting shared democratic standard but also for separation of powers and rule of law. On this basis, the ECOWAS adopted the policy of zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government in its region.

In spite of this Protocol, the imposition of sanctions by the ECOWAS on Guinea Bissau in 2003 and 2012, on Mali in 2012, the Gambia in 2017, etc., has not in any way prevented the two coups d’état within one year in Mali in 2020 and 2021. It did not prevent the coups in Guinea Conakry in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger Republic in 2023. In the eyes of Dr Aderemi Ajibewa, the Executive Director of Bonafide Global Concept Limited/Gracious Youth Empowerment Centre, the unending coups are a reflection of the weakening of the deterrence mechanisms. The weakening is traceable to ECOWAS selective enforcement of sanctions by keeping mute in some cases: President Alassane Ouattara’s third term in the Côte d’Ivoire, multiple extensions of presidential tenure in Togo, ECOWAS and African Union’s silence over the disregard for constitutional provisions in Chad when President Idris Derby died, etc. 

Dr Remi Ajibewa believes that the ECOWAS ‘has made commendable democratic strides but faces grave risks and that the Protocol on Democracy remains crucial to regional stability. In this regard, what are the grave risks and how should they be addressed? In fact, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has noted several times that liberal democracy is not working in Africa and particularly in Nigeria. But quo vadis? 

Ambassador Olusegun Akinsanya, concerning democracy, recommended the adoption of traditional democracy in the mania of Botswana. At the security level, Professor Femi Otubanjo and Dr Kester Chukwuma Onor recommended in their paper on “ECOMOG and Regional Peacekeeping” the need to continue to sustain the ECOMOG mechanism because it ‘proved that West Africans could tackle their own wars, setting a precedent for African-led peace operations.’ 

The way forward in the eyes of Dr Omotola Ilesanmi and Adeola Akindoju is the need to include more women in the governance of West Africa, especially in terms of representation in the national parliaments. And true enough, a small country like Cape Verde accounting for the highest number of women in parliament (lower house) with 44.4% and ranking 16th globally, in comparison with Nigeria, a country with the biggest population, accounting for the lowest in West Africa with 3.9% (House of Representatives) and 2.8% (Senate) and ranking 179th/183 globally. As they put it, ‘ECOWAS gender equality indices are dismal, lowest in sub-Saharan Africa,’ and therefore arguing that ‘women inclusion is fundamental to the region’s growth, security and political stability.’

While Professor Adele Jinadu, a veteran Political Scientist, argued that emphasis should be placed on the domestic need to develop the ability and capability of ECOWAS leaders to focus on themselves, especially in light of external pressures, General Ike Nwachukwu challenged the conference to imagine whether an undemocratic president could easily accept to be peer-reviewed. Without doubt, this cannot but be a major dynamic for a future political lull. He appreciated the efforts at self-liberation of the Burkinabé leader, Ibrahim Traoré.

Grosso modo, the organisation of the conference was quite timely and worth its efforts. All the six sessions were highly satisfactory in organisation, conduct, deliberation, and management. The funding role of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung was particularly commended. The conference was not only very thought-provoking with the revelations of new empirical information from many career diplomats that had been directly or indirectly involved in the making of the ECOWAS and management of its affairs or at the level of Nigeria’s foreign policy. Ambassadors like Wole Coker, Florence Ukonga, Olusegun Akinsanya, Olayiwola Laseinde, and Ayo Olukanni, etc., made a lot of contributions that complemented existing theoretical knowledge of ECOWAS at 50. Expectedly, the Conference is most likely to be continued at the summitry level on May 28, 2025 possibly at the NIIA which has been well refurbished to the level of acceptable international standard. With holding reception and restauration rooms, the NIIA is now truly becoming an International Institute in Africa, an African Institute in Nigeria, and a Nigerian Institute in Lagos. Both the Foreign Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and Professor Eghosa E. Osaghae, the Director General should be specially commended as the Conference also clearly points to the march towards a new strategically autonomous Nigeria in the making.