Achievements of ECOWAS since its establishment

Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 5:12 PM by Adrianna Simwa

Find out about the achievements of ECOWAS: what has been done for the welfare of the countries and their citizens. Has the West African sub-region undergone positive changes since its establishment? Take a look at a brief review.

The summit of ECOWAS — ECOWAS summit begins in Abuja, photo from www.republicoftogo.com

Aims and objectives of ECOWAS

Why was The Economic Community of West Africa States established? It was formed with specific aims to achieve. Here is the list of some of its priorities:

the promotion of partnership between African countries
the elimination of import and export taxes
the integration of member states policies

Now, let’s analyze whether these promises have been fulfilled in reality. Forty-three years passed since fifteen nations had signed an agreement in Nigeria (Lagos). What results has the coalition produced?

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Major achievements of ECOWAS

Some of the achievements of African union are the following:

Road construction between big cities. The highways Lagos-Abidjan, Nouakchott-Lagos have made commuting much easier that it was before. The road network Elubo – Alflao – Lagos is one of the achievements.
The relations between the Anglophone and Francophone have been stabilized. It has been done thanks to the ECOWAS passport. It has significantly eased the movement of people within those areas.
Telephone network for the member states. Nowadays, interconnection is available for all countries of the African Union.
No strict borders for nations and trades. ECOWAS has enabled West Africans to easily move among the West African countries. Also, the trade barrier has been removed. People, goods and services travel around the countries with ease.
Peace and security throughout the sub-region. The state of peace is kept by ECOWAS Monitoring Groups. The zones of conflicts are not so troublesome compared to what it used to be.