The exit of President Tinubu as ECOWAS chairman will be profoundly felt. His contribution to making ECOWAS a stable, peaceful and united Community is a benchmark for his successor. As he hands over the baton to a new helmsman, there are several problems which demand attention, namely the need to check the rising spate of terror attacks in the Sahel, where gratuitous violence is common, and the impact of this on the economy of the region. The regional counterterrorism force must be fully activated and well-funded because the cost of inaction will be incalculable.

Only last month, on 28 May, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) celebrated its 50th anniversary with huge fanfare, commemorating the event with official ceremonies in Ghana and Nigeria.

Back in 1975, the leaders of Nigeria and Togo; Yakubu Gowon and Gnasssingbe Eyadema had traversed the region and rallied 16 nations to sign the famous Lagos Treaty, which engendered unity and free trade in the West African subregion.

On Sunday, 22 June, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under whose stewardship ECOWAS marked the Golden Jubilee, handed over the chairmanship of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, after two successive mandates. President Tinubu’s leadership in the regional body’s highest decision-making organ began on 9 July, 2023, at the ECOWAS summit of Heads of State and Government in Guinea Bissau. As a mark of confidence in him, his peers renewed the mandate of this rotational position on July 2024.

For over 50 years, ECOWAS has endured a checkered existence and President Tinubu’s tenure as ECOWAS chairman was no different. The beginning of his tenure coincided with incidents of coups and counter-coups in the subregion, culminating with the exit of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from ECOWAS to focus on a security partnership they established earlier called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The Sahelian bloc led by military regimes, whose existence is antithetical to ECOWAS’ democratic norms and rules, has also severed military ties with its former Western allies like the United States and France, and now relies on Russia for military support.

Tinubu’s tenure became a bulwark against the erosion of democratic values, as he insisted, “We will not allow coup after coup in Africa”. ECOWAS, under his watch, imposed far-reaching sanctions on Niger to get it to return to constitutional rule and deter coups d’etat in the subregion. However, President Tinubu softened his earlier stance probably taking into consideration public sentiments such as those expressed by the only surviving founding father of ECOWAS, General Yakubu Gowon, who called for the lifting of sanctions.

On 24 February, 2024, ECOWAS lifted most of the sanctions on Niger and President Tinubu urged the three countries to return to the community, noting that ECOWAS must re-examine its current approach to the quest for constitutional order. Throughout his tenure, President Tinubu prioritised diplomatic negotiations to end the impasse with the three countries. Consequently, direct talks between ECOWAS and the three countries have begun towards safeguarding the community’s achievements and building future cooperation in various areas, including security and development.

ECOWAS, under the stewardship of President Tinubu, helped in stabilising democracy in some West African countries in transition, leading to improved electoral and governance practices, dialogue and peaceful handovers in Liberia and Ghana’s recent elections. The election monitoring machinery of the regional bloc and its peer review mechanism have engendered a more salubrious atmosphere and ensured that elections are becoming increasingly free, fair and devoid of violence.

Over the course of his two terms as chairman of the regional body, President Tinubu went to great lengths to promote peace in the subregion. His efforts at facilitating peace talks in Sierra Leone led to the signing of the crucial Unity Agreement between the major protagonists, following the post 2023 multi-tier election crisis in the country, while enabling the exile of former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Koroma, to Nigeria, to ease tensions in the country. Under his watch, the ECOWAS Standby Force to counter terrorism was activated and the ECOWAS military logistics depot in Lungi, Sierra Leone has been completed.

He also made sure that the frontline member states in the fight against terrorism, including the AES states, were supported with $4 million under the ECOWAS Counter Terrorism Humanitarian Response, and ECOWAS allocated $9 million to assist persons of concern, namely refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers. ECOWAS also delivered direct humanitarian aid to over 41,000 displaced persons in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea and Nigeria.

Tinubu continued support for ECOMIG, the ECOWAS Military Intervention in the Gambia, which first arrived to shore up the regime of Adama Barrow in 2017 and forced a reluctant Yahya Jammeh into exile, and has also been responsible for enduring peace in that enclave. Also remarkable was his assiduity in remaining engaged with Guinea, which has been under suspension since the coup that removed 83-year-old Alpha Conde from power in 2021.

ECOWAS, under the stewardship of President Tinubu, helped in stabilising democracy in some West African countries in transition, leading to improved electoral and governance practices, dialogue and peaceful handovers in Liberia and Ghana’s recent elections. The election monitoring machinery of the regional bloc and its peer review mechanism have engendered a more salubrious atmosphere and ensured that elections are becoming increasingly free, fair and devoid of violence.

It is important to remember that the pivotal reason for setting up ECOWAS was to ensure economic stability and prosperity in the region, and the body under the leadership of President Tinubu has left indelible footprints in this regard. As a consequence of his leadership, ECOWAS implemented extensive activities to consolidate the free trade area, customs union and the common market. Of note was the signing of the $26 billion African Atlantic Gas Pipeline project agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria, Morocco, and ECOWAS. The gas pipeline initiative aims to connect at least 13 nations and foster economic growth throughout the region.

In the area of agriculture and food security, ECOWAS under the leadership of President Tinubu operationalised the Regional Fund for Agriculture and Food (RFAF) via the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, promoting self-sufficiency in rice production. In that wise, 490 million livestock were equally vaccinated in the Sahel, improving animal health policies, and boosting access to the Green Climate Fund for climate-smart agriculture.

As President Tinubu revealed on 21 July, 2024 during the Sixth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union, a foremost forum for the African Union and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to align their work on the implementation of the continental integration agenda, “ECOWAS supported six Member States in ratifying the WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, and thirteen Member States have ratified the AfCFTA agreement…The ECOWAS interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT) is also operational in twelve Member States,” facilitating trade and reducing transit barriers.

He also oversaw a major rise in participation under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation scheme (ETLS), with Nigeria alone recording over 3,000 registered companies and more than 6,000 eligible products as of December 2024.

On the home front, President Tinubu laid the groundwork for the Nigeria-Equatorial Guinea gas pipeline, a $25 billion project to enhance regional energy connectivity, which is supported by ECOWAS. The 200-kilometre project is focused on transporting Nigerian gas to Equatorial Guinea, addressing regional energy cooperation and redressing economic challenges. Still on energy, ECOWAS under His watch is advancing electrification efforts in The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mali through the ECOWAS-Regional Electricity Access Project (ECOREAP).

In the area of agriculture and food security, ECOWAS under the leadership of President Tinubu operationalised the Regional Fund for Agriculture and Food (RFAF) via the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, promoting self-sufficiency in rice production. In that wise, 490 million livestock were equally vaccinated in the Sahel, improving animal health policies, and boosting access to the Green Climate Fund for climate-smart agriculture.

The exit of President Tinubu as ECOWAS chairman will be profoundly felt. His contribution to making ECOWAS a stable, peaceful and united Community is a benchmark for his successor. As he hands over the baton to a new helmsman, there are several problems which demand attention, namely the need to check the rising spate of terror attacks in the Sahel, where gratuitous violence is common, and the impact of this on the economy of the region. The regional counterterrorism force must be fully activated and well-funded because the cost of inaction will be incalculable.

Linda Nwabuwa Akhigbe is the senior special assistant to the president on Strategic Communications.