The Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, House of Representatives, Tochukwu Okere, said that the primary objective of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) module for the economic prosperity of the region, though laudable, has not been entirely successful.

He said that the loss of focus is responsible for the apparent multidimensional poverty and fast-expanding insecurity in the sub-region.

Speaking on ‘Trade Conundrum: Expanding Understanding of ECOWAS Module as Catalyst To Prosperity In Sub-Saharan Africa,’ during the 15th Anniversary of Nigerian Eye Newspaper Lecture in Accra, Ghana, Okere said the revised Article of the Commission in 1983, clearly stated that the Community was founded to “promote co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of economic union in West Africa to raise the living standards of its people, ensure growth, foster relations among member states and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent.

“If truly this was the intention of the founding fathers, why has no determined step been taken to accomplish it? This is my concern and I believe the concern of the organisers of this forum.”

According to him in 2022, the total trade volume, including imports and exports, intra-community trade in the ECOWAS region was just $277.22 billion according to data sourced from the Trade Information System (ECOTIS).

This volume of trade, according to the President of ECOWAS, Omar Touray, was considered far below the sub-region’s estimated trade potential. He observed that this intra-community trade stood at 12 per cent compared to other regions that were fully integrated and that have consistently recorded as high as 60- 70 per cent in intra-community trade is unacceptable.

He said that curiously, reports have equally indicated that Nigeria alone in the last 27 years has recorded a yearly volume of 20.1 per cent from $151million in 1995 to $21.4 billion in 2022 in imports from China and volume exports from Nigeria to China in 2022 stood at $1.5 billion. In 2023, the total volume of trade between Nigeria and China stood at $22.6 billion.

He said in the same vein, the volume of China’s exports to Ghana in 2023 was $9.23 Billion, stressing that during the same year, the United Kingdom’s volume of trade with Nigeria was E7.1 billion and her trade with Ghana was E1.2 billion pounds.

“This is huge compared to only N2.41 trillion between Nigeria and the whole ECOWAS bloc consisting of 14 other countries in the same year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This volume of trade with China and the U.K. alone would have impacted meaningfully the lives of the ordinary citizens of the sub-region if only 60 per cent of the trade was transacted within the sub-regional market

“What these statistics have shown is the huge disparity in the volume of trade among ECOWAS member states. It equally indicts the countries for preferring to trade outside the union whereas the 15 Member Union ostensibly founded in 1975 was to among other things foster trade amongst members and ultimately the prosperity of the sub-region.

“This foundational imperative has been neglected over the years and the Commission appears to have shifted focus to politics from the economic welfare of her citizens and consequently the loss of a huge sub-regional market of an estimated population of 449,788,443 as of 29th May, 2024 according to UN report. This single regional market is more than the population of the biggest economy in the world, the United States whose 2023 population stood at about 339,996,463. I therefore very willingly acquiesce with the central theme of this conversation aptly captured as “Trade Conundrum.”

He added that a look at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 2022 report will weaken optimism about the Commission and of course, bring to the fore the immediate and latent consequences of its inaction.

“The report specifically noted that ‘social development remains a challenge for most of the West African countries as evidenced by the performances score under the thematic area which is below 50 per cent for 80 per cent of the ECOWAS Member states.’ Several scholars have equally argued that ‘development indicators baseline data collated on ECOWAS Member States show a rather low level of development’.”