ECOWAS: How Tinubu Can Make A Difference — Experts

Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, was recently elected as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This did not come as much of a surprise, as previous Nigerian Presidents have held the position at different times.

But with the current situation of the country, the President has a lot to tackle within and outside the country, given his new role at ECOWAS.

International relations experts who spoke to THE WHISTLER on what the President can do differently from his predecessors to make a lasting impact in ECOWAS, have suggested areas of focus.

Prof. Ghali Shereef, the Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Abuja, said Tinubu’s priority should be security.

“The first major thing that President Tinubu can do differently from all other ECOWAS Chairmen, not just the Nigerian ones, is to ensure drastic security of the country as well as the region because this is what other previous leaders have failed to do. They put in their best but they were unable to fully achieve it.

“Security is a universal issue, even those countries with advanced security and intelligence have not been able to secure their own territories a hundred percent, but we have special cases in Nigeria which the previous administrations had tried to unsuccessfully to control.

“Although Boko Haram has virtually been decimated, we still have some terrorists that are causing havoc and there are still places that people can’t enter in the state of Borno.
Coming down to the North-West, we are seeing a resurgence in the cases of banditry as well as terrorist activities in Zamfara, Sokoto, and other states.

“So this is one major thing that President Tinubu should consolidate all efforts in tackling and making sure that he assuages the human suffering and plight of Nigerians as well as West Africans to this effect,” he explained.

He stated that next, Tinubu should focus on poverty reduction and job creation, as the creation of jobs will ultimately alleviate the poverty level in the country and the region at large.

“Secondly, there has to be a drastic action towards poverty reduction. Daily we see people suffering, being unable to go to school, being unable to eat three square meals due to poverty, and poverty reduction is intertwined with creating job opportunities for the teeming youth, who are vanguards of society.

“If the President can provide more job opportunities, he will be able to reduce the poverty level in the country. Also, instrumentalizing the ECOWAS protocol, particularly the one on the free movement of people, goods, and services. If we are able to continue respecting this protocol, more ways will be paved for the West Africans to thrive in businesses and trade, especially regarding the African Continental Trade Agreement,” he said.

Shereef said the President should also make efforts to improve the education sector.

“Next is education. The President should make sure that our universities are actually brought to their hitherto intellectual standard. Dealing with university education is essential, improving polytechnic education is also essential because the polytechnics compliment the universities with technical know-how.

“Education is vital, and looking at the number of out-of-school children, President Tinubu should actually serve as a messiah to these children and reduce the number as well as make education affordable or even free for the common man,” he said.

The Professor then spoke on Tinubu’s political appointments, urging him not to make it a thing of ‘political reward’ by recycling career politicians, but rather choosing new people who will actually get the job done and impact the lives of Nigerians.

“Also in his appointments, there is something called political reward. Whoever works for you to see the success of your political struggle, you usually need to reward them, but in making such decisions, one shouldn’t be oblivious to the major responsibility of serving the people.

“Some of them are people that Nigerians are even tired of seeing or hearing about because they have been part of the previous administration, therefore we need new faces. If one is appointing Ministers, you do not need to appoint former governors, especially those who have served with no positive changes in their states.

“Another aspect of this is that they are usually not the best governors, or the best senators, or even the best intellectuals in their field. There are other people that President Tinubu can actually choose who will serve Nigeria better than these people. Some of these former governors and senators, if proper investigation is done, Nigerians would weep at the way they have embezzled public funds.

“So if the President should bring back some of these governors or senators, it is already a sign that he is not going to be different from other Presidents. He should rather make them ambassadors somewhere else, where they can represent Nigeria in good stead. So I really blame the President for tentatively bringing these governors and senators back as Ministers,” he said.

THE WHISTLER also spoke to Dr. Riyahudeen, an International Relations lecturer at Bayero University Kano, who stated that having the Nigerian President as the ECOWAS Chairman will help Nigeria promote its foreign policy agenda in the region of West Africa.

“The position of Chairmanship of ECOWAS is one of important regional interest to Nigeria as a nation especially with Nigeria being the biggest financer of ECOWAS as an organization.

“Having this critical role and focus in terms of its foreign policy and national interest, Nigeria’s president as the Chairman of ECOWAS is a strategic and important position that will help Nigeria to promote its foreign policy agenda in the sub-region.

“Now the benefits that may likely come from this Chairmanship of President Tinubu, first of all, is in rallying support around Nigeria’s political, economic, and security interests in the region. Nigeria alone cannot provide security to itself because of the cross-border tension and violence that we are seeing.

“The issue of banditry, the issue of Boko-Haram, terrorism, and other security threats are the important things that Nigeria requires the support of its neighbours, particularly West African neighbours, in combatting. These bandits are getting weapons from areas ranging between Mali, Niger Republic, Algeria, and so on, therefore the Nigerian president, as the Chairman of ECOWAS can help build cooperation between and among these regional leaders in helping to secure the West African sub-region and Nigeria as a country. This is one important interest of Nigeria in this regard which, if President Tinubu pursues, will greatly benefit us all,” he said.

He also spoke on the importance of promoting free trade among ECOWAS member states to help boost Nigeria’s, as well as the collective, economy.

“Additionally, we know that the sole principle of establishing ECOWAS is to promote trade in the West African region. Free movement of goods, services, capital, and investment, is at the center of Nigeria’s economic agenda, therefore Nigeria, as the biggest economy in Africa, needs cooperation between and among these regional entities to boost trade and investment and promote economic development of the region.

Dr. Riyahudeen also stated that there should be a push for the ECOWAS goal of working with one currency between member states, like the euro between countries of the European Union (EU).

“I know also of the agenda of ECOWAS of working with one currency, just like we have in the European Union (EU) which trades with the euro. This was a longtime dream of ECOWAS and Nigeria is at the forefront of ensuring that there is a common currency in the West African sub-region so that we will have a common market, common economic agenda, and a common development. This will help Nigeria to also push for that agenda, especially with the Chairmanship position, which will in turn promote Nigeria’s economic goal and interest.

“The use of Cephas by francophone countries in West Africa, while other countries trade with their own currencies, is undermining investment and trade activities within the sub-region and it is hampering the free movement of goods and services that ECOWAS is promoting. With Nigeria assuming the Chairmanship position, it will help the government pursue and push for this agenda, and in the end, Nigeria will reap the benefits as the biggest economy in Africa,” he said.

Finally, he said the most important value to protect as a body is peace and progress among member states because whatever affects one country, affects us all.

“Above all, with Nigeria being the most populous country in the region and having the strongest economy, it will be of great interest to Nigeria to promote peace and progress in the West-African sub-region because any little problem in the region will definitely affect the country as a whole. Therefore, it is a big agenda for Nigeria to help other countries in the region to promote peace, security, and democracy.

“We are currently experiencing issues in Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and recently in Senegal that are undermining their democratic and peaceful rule, and all these cases are of importance to Nigeria because they affect the peace and progress of the entire West African sub-region,” he said.