GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT
The paper deliberation was on ECOWAS at forty, alongside the successes and challenges. The
body has succeeded in the elimination of different barriers to the free movement of persons and
goods, restrictions on trade and the harmonisation of economic and sectoral policies. As a
matter of fact, the body also succeeded in the setting up of the Multinational Maritime
Coordination Centre (MMCC) for Pilot Operational Zone E, comprising four countries (Benin,
Niger, Nigeria, and Togo). The objective of the centre is to monitor the coastal maritime space of
West Africa with a view to responding operationally to illicit maritime activities such as oil
bunkering, illicit fishing, hostage taking, piracy, illicit waste dumping, among others. The paper
stated that the introduction of the ECOWAS travel certificate, adopted in all Member States but
being implemented by eight (8) Member States, which are: Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia,
Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The study concluded that huge successes were
made by ECOWAS within its forty years of existence. The region has experienced relative
improvement in its security situation, even if the situation still calls for vigilance. The threat
posed by extremist and armed groups in Mali, Niger, and Nigeria continued to raise uncertainty
over the already fragile stability of the Sahel-Saharan and, by extension, the entire region. On
the economic level, despite the slowdown in economic growth at a global level, the region
experienced robust growth, which stood at 6.2% in 2014. Faced with all the constraints that
have hampered the development of regional trade and the regional integration process, the
main challenges that ECOWAS must address have to do with the deepening of structural
reforms, improving the institutional framework, maintaining macroeconomic stability and
harmonising macroeconomic policies, building physical infrastructure and human capital,
consolidating the monetary cooperation framework, customs union, agricultural development,
and strengthening political stability and social harmony. One of the recommendations made,
amongst others, was that Member States should unite against apathy in order to accelerate
cooperation and unity. This will foster economic progress and development, particularly through
the actualization of common programmes in the areas of agriculture and natural resources,
industry, transport and communication, energy, trade, currency and finance, and economic
reforms, as well as health, justice, peace, and security.
KEYWORDS: ECOWAS, Successes and Challenges