CONCERNS RAISED FOR IMPROVED TRADE LINKS AMONGST ECOWAS STATES

By Funmi and Stanley

Abuja, Nigeria

The Chairperson of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, Her Excellency, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson in her speech which declared the session open berates the poor trade link amongst Members of ECOWAS. She pointed out that “trade between Member states amounts to less than 13 percent”; whilst harping on trade liberalization as a veritable tool to improving trade links between Member States. Correlating the concern raised by the Liberian President, the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki has noted that barriers to intra-regional trade have remained a challenge for the economies of West African 15 member States.

According to him, "the advantages of a stronger trading link among member states would make West Africa the business focal point of the world especially with the collective large population of the 15 sovereign states estimated at about 362 million people". Senator Saraki made this assertion at the Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament held in Abuja, Nigeria. He reiterated that "despite the fact that West Africa remains the European Union’s largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, regional trade is still lacking behind compared to trade with developed and emerging countries outside Africa. Dynamics of trade among the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have largely remained poor as well as aggregate trade flows".

He therefore enjoined the Parliamentarians to deliberate on areas of joint ventures between states in the development of physical infrastructure such as road and railway within the ECOWAS sub region.  

The President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki was represented by the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Honourable Suleiman Lasun, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives.