West African highway linking Nigeria and Ivory Coast could help revitalize Ecowas

West African leaders are holding a key summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, with a focus on the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from the demoralizing 15-nation bloc Ecowa.

Few believe the military governments of the three rebel states can be persuaded to suspend or reverse their decisions.

While facing this blow to regional cohesion, West Africa is also struggling with the closure of a 1,028km (689 mile) highway that runs from Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, through Ghana, Togo and Benin to Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. We are preparing to begin construction work.

Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and has already attracted $15.6 billion (£12.3 billion) in pledges from a range of funders and investors.

Just as Western Europe aligned the Soviet Union-led communist bloc with a “common market” that later evolved into today’s trading powerhouse, the European Union (EU), Ecowas believes that promoting prosperity and growth is most effective. It may turn out to be a reasonable response. The wave of military coups and nationalism that has swept through the region since 2020.

Plans to build a modern transport corridor along West Africa’s coast were approved eight years ago, long before the coups that overthrew civilian governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

A preparatory study led by the African Development Bank was commissioned.

But when these were presented last month, the timing could not have been better to reinvigorate the shattered confidence of Ecowas (the Economic Community of West African States).

Neither traditional diplomacy nor sanctions, nor even the threat of military intervention in Niger, could force the junta to organize elections and restore civilian government as required by Ecowas’ rules of governance.

The defiant government has declared it will leave the 15-nation bloc entirely.

They have since rejected the efforts of the remaining members to persuade them to remain, although Senegal’s new president Bashir Diomai Fay, an Ecowas envoy who shares their nationalist views, is still trying.

Until this crisis, Ecowas was Africa’s most cohesive and politically integrated regional group, with a reliable track record in managing crises and deploying peacekeeping forces to troubled member states. Ta.

With the departure of Mali, Burkina and Niger, the region would lose 76 million of its 446 million population, large areas of the Sahara Desert and more than half of its total geographic area. . This is a painful blow to reputation and self-esteem. .

The shock of the three countries’ withdrawal may encourage those calling for stricter governance and democratic rules.

Meanwhile, ambitious coastal transport corridor projects designed to support economic development also serve political purposes. This will demonstrate the ability of the remaining Member States to work together to accelerate trade growth and attract investment in what is already one of the most prosperous West African coastal urban areas. part of this vast area.

And just as the EU’s wealth and dynamism proved a powerful attraction for the former communist countries, perhaps the growing prosperity of the entire Ecowas will ultimately lead to the now disillusioned states further north. would invite them to rejoin the EU.

Construction of the proposed four- to six-lane highway is expected to create 70,000 jobs and is ambitiously targeted for completion in 2030.

And the plan is to acquire large enough land along the route to later accommodate a new rail line connecting the larger port cities along the Gulf of Guinea. Existing rail lines extend inland, but there are no rail lines along the coast.

The road spans West Africa’s largest cities, including Abidjan with a population of 8.3 million, Accra (4 million), Lomé (2 million), Cotonou (2.6 million), and Lagos, with an estimated population of nearly 20 million or more. It will connect many of the cities in the country.

Several cities are important gateways for trade flows within and outside the region.

The bureaucratic red tape and petty corruption risks that often complicate the lives of drivers traveling from one country to another are already beginning to fade.

At many border crossings, modern one-stop border posts, where officials from both countries line up to check passports and transit documents, are replaced by modern one-stop border posts, where drivers and passengers queue at a series of counters, and a set of border police and police stand by. It was replaced by a miscellaneous hut. Customs officials went through the process one after another with great difficulty.

And now, proposed highways and rail lines will further accelerate trade and travel flows between coastal economies, increase competitiveness and integration, in the same way that the EU has transformed trade and development across the continent. It promises to transform the attractiveness of the region for investors.

And the process of economic and administrative integration naturally had enormous political consequences.

This served as a strong incentive for countries still outside the bloc to improve their economic governance, strengthen democracy, and fight corruption in order to qualify for membership.

Perhaps Ecowas could emulate this precedent and tempt opposition countries to rejoin, especially if flagship projects like transport corridors make a real contribution to growth.

Not only do Mali, Niger and Burkina face serious development and security challenges, but they are also landlocked and highly dependent on their coastal neighbors for transport, trade and labor movements. It is from.

A huge amount of trade, both formal and informal, takes place across borders.

Livestock from the three Sahel countries are exported by the hoof to feed urban populations in Dakar, Abidjan and Lagos.

Onions and potatoes grown in Niger’s arid climate are prized by home shoppers on the coast, while industrial products from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria are exported in the opposite direction.

Ivory Coast is home to millions of Burkinabe and Malian people, who form the mainstay of the workforce for cocoa plantations.

Moreover, the coup leaders have not withdrawn from the West African CFA franc, the French-backed single currency of eight countries that hinders competitiveness but provides a strong defense against inflation and financial instability.

However, these deep ties between the Sahel countries and the West African coast were not enough to deter the military regimes of Mali, Burkina and Niger from announcing their withdrawal from Ecowas.

Hostility toward the bloc, which they describe as bullying and arrogant, has political benefits and increased popularity at home. And Morocco is talking about opening alternative trade corridors to Atlantic ports, which could expand options.

But if the remaining Ecowa countries could accelerate their own prosperity efforts by removing trade barriers and pushing forward with groundbreaking projects like coastal highways and railways, today’s political scars would It may be possible to gradually reduce mistrust and bring Sahel countries back into the world. A reunified West African regional identity.

Paul Merry is a Consulting Fellow in the Africa Program at Chatham House, London.