Research group to ECOWAS: Member states need economic revival | Initiate development framework

The Nigerian Working Group on Peace and Conflict Prevention (WGPCP) has urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to take urgent actions to address the region’s economic outlook.

In a statement signed by Adewale Adeoye, WGPCP chairperson, and Digifa Werenipr, general secretary, the group said ECOWAS should address economic inequalities and youth unemployment, as well as fight corruption in a decisive manner in the sub-region.

According to the group, addressing the key issues is a major antidote to military coups in the sub-region, noting that it is far more critical than threats of invasion of countries seized by soldiers at gunpoint.

“We call on ECOWAS to call an emergency summit on regional cooperation that can lead to economic revival of member states,” the statement reads.

“We want to see a new economic roadmap that will address basic needs of the sub-region like road, food, agriculture, free trade and human security. 

“ECOWAS should define its own framework of development that would lift the bloc from a state of stupor and citizen hopelessness.”

The group also urged the regional bloc to address human rights violations arising from the detention of political dissents, religious intolerance, and terrorism by state and non-state actors.

Reacting to the recent spate of coups in Africa, WGPCP condemned the military takeovers, saying “people in West Africa should determine their future through fair, credible, and transparent elections”.

The group said good governance and placing the public interest at the front burner of government policies are the major ways to prevent coups in Africa. 

WGPCP added that the most important focal point for ECOWAS is for the regional body to “initiate a trans-national economic blueprint that would bail the region out of misery, poverty, youth unemployment amidst a large-scale proliferation of illicit arms, factors which coup plotters continue to exploit”.

The working group was established in 2016 following a string of national conferences in Nigeria’s six geo-political zones and spearheaded the Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER) with the support of the Ford Foundation.

WGPCP also conducts research on conflict across Nigeria and provides warning signals where necessary.