The House of Representatives at its plenary session on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 mandated its Committees on Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to undertake an appraisal of Nigeria’s continued membership of the Economic and West African States (ECOWAS) and make recommendations that ensure that Nigeria is protected from any adverse effects that could result from the admission of Morocco into the West African economic bloc. The Committee was further directed to report its findings within two (2) weeks due to the exigency of the matter.
Presenting the motion Hon. Bosun Oladele (APC: Oyo) stated that ECOWAS was established to, among other things, foster relations and enhance economic stability among member States in the West African region. Therefore, the Arab Kingdom of Morocco, which is in North Africa and a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, should not ordinarily be applying to join ECOWAS due to its geographical location.
In addition, he expressed worry over ECOWAS Parliament’s recent “fraternization” with Morocco since the Arab Kingdom applied to join ECOWAS in June inspite of the absence of the Kingdom having any common boundaries with any Member state in ECOWAS. He revealed that the ECOWAS Commission was expected to make recommendations on the application, that will be considered at the 52nd Ordinary Session of its meeting in Togo in December 2017.
Speaking further, Hon. Oladele was suspicious of Morocco’s true intentions of joining ECOWAS which has a large market of over three hundred and forty (340) million consumers with fifty-five percent (55%) of them residing in Nigeria. He also accused Morocco, a key-trading partner of the European Union of having a great interest in this massive market share. Furthermore he said that the revised ECOWAS Treaty of 1993 discouraged multiple memberships by member States, as this could complicate the move towards both regional and continental integration, before succinctly stating that Morocco did not meet the criteria for admission into ECOWAS.
He concluded by urging the House of Representatives to carry out a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s relationship and standing with ECOWAS, to ensure that it was well informed of the implications in the event that Morocco is eventually admitted into the West African bloc. He warned that failure to take action could have grave consequences that could enslave Nigerian citizens and jeopardise the economy of the region.
