Nigeria and ECOWAS

Perhaps, one of the revolutionary actions taken by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since its formation in 1975 to foster regional integration is the ECOWAS protocol on the Free Movement of People and Goods. The very first of its kind in the continent, the free movement of goods, capital and people was meant principally to boost regional trade and economic development among member states while allowing people of the region to enter and reside in the territory of any member state for 90 days at a go, provided they have valid travel documents and international health certificate.
Although the implementation of the protocol hasn’t been hassle-free, it has provided the peoples and governments of the sub-region the opportunity to travel and trade across their borders with little hindrance. For Nigerian entrepreneurs and businesses, the protocol avails them the opportunity to explore the markets of fourteen other countries. For the other member countries, Nigeria, with its 185 million population (bigger than those of the fourteen other ECOWAS members), provides a huge market for them. Perhaps, that is the major reason why Morocco, a North African Arab country, is applying to join ECOWAS. With its fairly developed manufacturing sector, Morocco stands to gain disproportionately from free trade with the mainly import-dependent West African region. But much more important to Morocco is the benefits of trading freely with the over 185 million Nigerian market.
One draw-back of the protocol on the Free Movement of people, capital and goods across the region is the predatory actions of Nigerian neighbours, who, in wanting to access the huge Nigerian market, import goods far beyond their capacities and engage in smuggling across Nigerian porous borders. One good example is the problem of importation and smuggling of rice into the Nigerian market. The Nigerian government, in its bid to ensure self-sufficiency in rice production, banned the importation of rice across the land borders. However, as legal importation to Nigeria drops drastically, importation of parboiled rice (consumed mainly by Nigerians) increased exponentially in the neighbouring countries of Benin, Cameroun, Niger and others.
For example, data gathered by BusinessDay show that Benin Republic with an estimated population of 11 million people imported 609,893 metric tonnes of parboiled rice from India in 2017, while Niger, with an estimated population of 21 million people, imported 98,179 metric tonnes, and curiously, Nigeria, with a population of 186 million imported only 8,726 metric tonnes.
Also, data by the Thai Rice Exporters Association shows that Benin Republic’s imports from Thailand from January to November 2017 stood at 1.64 million metric tonnes, a 32 percent increase from 1.24 million metric tonnes within the same period in 2016, and an increment of 104.45 percent from 805,765 metric tonnes exported to Benin republic in 2015. Cameroun also imported 663, 667 metric tonnes of parboiled rice from Thailand between January and November 2017, a 47.64 percent increase from 449, 513 within the same period in 2016, and 449, 297 metric tonnes in 2015.
Of course, from investigation and other studies carried out, these imported parboiled rice all find their way into the Nigerian market illegally regardless of Nigerian government position on importation of rice along the land borders.
While not advocating for the termination of the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of people, capital and goods across the sub-region, we call on Nigeria to do more to protect its borders to ensure that only legitimate goods, services and capital flow into the country from its neighbours.
Nigerian businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs must also do more to plug the huge hole in demand that always necessitates smuggling and dumping of goods from its neighbours. They have an unusually huge market – the dream of many businesses and entrepreneurs in other countries – waiting to be captured. They must intensify their efforts to ensure that they produce goods and services to satisfy local demand. That alone will give them the economy of scale to capture not only the West African market, but the African market and become global players.