The last one year has tested the unity of ECOWAS more than any other period in its nearly 50 years of existence.
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Still, the last one year has tested the unity of the regional group more than any other period in its nearly fifty years of chequered growth.was handed the reigns in July 2023 at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, barely two months after he won a fiercely contested election in Nigeria, the ECOWAS community was facing some dire crisis. Three member states, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea had seen five coups in three years.
Almost as if on cue, two weeks later, a coup led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, toppled the government of Mohamed Bazoum in Niger and thus began a firestorm of events that came to define the first tenure of president Bola Tinubu as chair of the regional body. Soon after, however, things got complicated. The sanctions, as sanctions are wont to do, were hurting the people of Niger more than their targeted leaders. Food security worsened, inflation skyrocketed, and border closure with Nigeria particularly along Maradi and half a dozen states in northern Nigeria shut down the roughly $500 million annual trade in transport, electricity, tobacco, cement, livestock-derived products, fruits and refined petroleum between both nations.
The decision all but saved ECOWAS from further fragmentation. By dialing back, Mr Tinubu proved to be sensitive to the mood of the region. Still, critics worried that the decision to halt military intervention made ECOWAS look weak. Yet, whenever it becomes necessary to kill people in order to prove your power over them, you have already failed.
Also, under his leadership, ECOWAS speeded up the process of reducing the cost of elections in the region, capping campaign finances, and establishing a logistic depot to produce ballot boxes and other generic election materials to aid nations holding elections. It has since deployed a mission to Ghana, which goes to the polls at the end of the year, to investigate any obstacle that may stand in the way of a hitch-free election.
As President Tinubu’s tenure ends Sunday, 7 July 2024, a new chairperson will be elected at the Extraordinary Summit to be held Sunday in Abuja at the Villa Conference Hall.
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