The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has stated that becoming a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is voluntary.
This comment was made in reference to the recent exit of three Sahelian states (Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso) from the regional bloc, citing concerns with the organization. Tuggar emphasized that it’s up to the regimes in these countries to make a decision. He explained that ECOWAS is a union of a community of people, and the emphasis is on the people and citizens.
Tuggar made these comments during an interview with Qatar broadcaster Al Jazeera in Doha, where he was visiting as part of a delegation led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The visit resulted in Nigeria and Qatar signing several memorandums of understanding and discussing potential collaboration in energy, trade, labor, agriculture, and other areas.
When asked if there was a need to reinvent ECOWAS after the three Sahelian states announced their withdrawal, Tuggar said there wasn’t. He explained that there’s a process for leaving, which takes about a year. It’s one thing to announce that a country has left, but it’s another to fully disengage from ECOWAS itself, as every ECOWAS citizen carries a passport that guarantees visa-free travel within the bloc.
“We’re waiting to see if they’re even going to print the passports which are going to cost millions of dollars.
“We’re talking about 30 per cent of, let’s say, Cote d’Ivoire, coming from Burkina Faso, and Mali, which means they would need new residencies or they will have to leave Cote d’Ivoire and the same thing with Nigeriens in Nigeria, in several other places.
“So, it’s not as simple as it’s made out to be. The process of them leaving takes a lot more than just a simple pronouncement and there are certain procedures that have to be followed.”
Tuggar added that ECOWAS has shown clearly that there’s no bellicosity towards those countries because sanctions were removed out of humanitarian considerations.
“Fasting during Ramadan is coming up, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the Chairman of ECOWAS, heads of state and government pushed for the removal of sanctions. The ECOWAS leaders endorsed it and the sanctions have been removed, borders have been opened,” he said.
