By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on Saturday, lifted the economic sanctions it earlier imposed on Niger, Mali, and Burkina-Faso, over its unconstitutional change of government.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, while reading the communique issued after the Extra Ordinary Meeting of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on the political and security situations in West Africa, noted that the lifting of the sanctions was with immediate effect.
Touray said it has suspended the closure of the land and air border to Niger, as well as a no-fly zone of all commercial flights.
ECOWAS also said the exit of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso would be detrimental to the region’s economy including stalling projects worth over $500m.
“The withdrawal of the three-member states could result in the halt or the suspension of all ECOWAS projects and programmes worth more than $500m,” a communique released at the end of the extraordinary summit revealed.
Similarly, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, charged the exiting military junta in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to reconsider their decision given the benefits enjoyed by their citizens, adding that ECOWAS is not their enemy.
The Chair of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government said that their decision to lift the sanctions is not unconnected with the latest intervention by the former Nigerian Head of State, and the only surviving founding fathers of ECOWAS, General Yakubu Gowon.
Meanwhile, some critics said that the lifting of sanctions on the military presents the economic bloc as a lame duck and might also serve as a blood booster for would-be coupists in the subregion.
Some others think that the latest move by ECOWAS is the right step in the right direction.
In an interview with ThisNigeria, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico, Ogbole Amedu-Ode, commended the lifting of the sanction.
According to him, “Good a thing that they are lifting sanctions but we pray that it is not coming a bit too late. This is the way to go in the first instance, negotiations, negotiations, and negotiations. I have always been saying it, rather than go the swashbuckling, and fasted drawer kind of cowboy thing. They would impose sanctions, cut electricity to Niger.
“We do this, we impose a travel ban and all that, then the guys’ backs were on the wall and they decided ok, we quit ECOWAS, it is not compulsory. Then the reality that ECOWAS is potentially disintegrating is staring us in our face, especially when our president is the chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
“Nobody wanted that, but again, the fact that General Gowon intervened during the week might have nudged them in this direction. But let us hope that this step is a step in the right direction and that it will elicit the sought response, the positive and constructive response that is expected of the powers that be in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. We hope that they have not gone too far to be drawn back.”
On the subtle threats of sacking their citizens working in ECOWAS institutions if they fail to shift grounds, the retired Nigerian diplomat said, if they say that they are exiting ECOWAS, there is no point keeping their staff within the body that they had exited.
He added that there would also be no point keeping ECOWAS structures in countries that had withdrawn their membership.
He said, “I am sure that the coupists also had in mind this possible implication before making their decisions to exit. But if I were ECOWAS, I would not have issued any subtle threats at all, while withdrawing or suspending these sanctions as it were.
“Threats do not help, chest-thumping in situations like this does not help in bringing about an agreeable and acceptable solutions to a quagmire like this, and it is quite unfortunate that this is happening. No threat should have been issued. With the lifting of sanctions, we will see how we can go building confidence and goodwill across the divide.”
He, however, urged ECOWAS and Mr President to appoint a special envoy on this issue, stressing that the special envoy will hit the ground running and see how he can use subtle diplomacy to put this matter to rest.
On his part, Chairman Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria Enugu State chapter, Dr Ambrose Igboke, said, the reversal of the sanctions to erring coup plotters in the three West African countries that were earlier suspended by ECOWAS is a tragedy.
He noted that it is unfortunate, that ECOWAS backtracked in enforcing sanctions on belligerent soldiers that ousted democratically elected governments.
Igboke, who is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators Nigeria, queried, “Is ECOWAS, by this action, endorsing coup plotting to continue in the region? Is ECOWAS saying that there is no punishment for coup plotting in West Africa? Is ECOWAS saying that the three errant military juntas are more powerful than the regional bloc?”
The communication scholar, said, “Just when some of us were thinking that ECOWAS can bark and bite, the sub-regional body is now cowed into submission. We have taken a step back as a regional bloc in Africa. The world will keep laughing at us.”
Also, a research professor at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Femi Otubanjo, said that beyond the humanitarian grounds, ECOWAS lifted the sanctions for several other reasons.
The first one, he said is that the founding fathers of ECOWAS did not envisage a situation in which multiple numbers of members would want to leave at the same time, noting that such a scenario would be at odds with the organization.
Otubanjo noted, “If we look at the protocol, it said that if a member wants to leave, he has to give 12 months of notice and all of that. The founding fathers did not envisage multiple exits. Secondly, out of 15 member states, the exit of three members is huge.
“So, there was a danger that ECOWAS could break up as a result of their exit. This was the point that Gowon made when he visited the President at the State House and also dropped his letter, which has now gone viral online.
“The third one is that we have this African way of resolving disputes. Now, they have listened to the founding father, the elder, and have intervened. Moreover, Nigeria is currently the chair of authority of heads of state of ECOWAS, and cannot afford to ignore advice emanating from its former Head of state and a founding father of ECOWAS. That is how we settle things in Africa, we listen and respect the views of elders”.
The research professor, also noted that the sanctions often hurt the common people and not the military regime.
“In Nigeria, for instance, those at the corridors of power always have their way when petrol is scarce, to get supply to run their generators, and run around town in their cars. It is the masses that will always suffer.
“Nigeria, particularly, has a special relationship with Niger, they are majorly Hausa people. Therefore, there is a continuity of cultural ties between Nigeria and Niger and that has always been a problem for Nigeria.
“We have so many strategic links with Niger. For example, there is this gas pipeline that is going through Niger from Nigeria to Algeria to sell our Liquefied natural gas (LNG), to Europe, and this is money that we desperately need. There is also the River Niger, which if Niger blocks, will affect our dams here if we are not in an agreement with them,” he explained.
This, he said, is in addition to cultural and religious affinity, stressing, “We always have reasons to consider. We should not have abandoned Niger totally, just because of regional integration”.
Otubanjo, however, noted that the unfortunate thing is that ECOWAS now does not have any pressure to mount on any coup plotter.
Observing that these military regimes were welcomed by their people because they overthrew civilian governments that were unpopular, and insensitive to the plight of the people, Prof. Otubanjo, concluded that the lifting of the sanctions is sending a wrong message that coup can be tolerated.
On whether the lifting of sanctions would strain the relationship between ECOWAS and EU for instance, Dr Pine Atah said it will not strain any kind of relationship with the Western powers.
Atah, who is the Head of Department of Political Science, at Benue State University, Makurdi, asked if the EU member states not still maintaining diplomatic ties with each other.
He further queried, “If they are so concerned that the military regime is bad, why are they maintaining a diplomatic presence in those countries? Why did they not sever their relations with these countries on account of irregular change of the government?”
Atah noted that things do not work like that in International Relations, adding that IR is about diplomacy.
He said that once ECOWAS under the leadership of President Tinubu took confrontational measures, the countries felt that the only thing they could do was to leave ECOWAS.
