The Economic Community of West African States has announced plans to collaborate with Africa’s business mogul, Aliko Dangote and other private sectors, to strengthen financial stability and economic resilience across the region.
The initiative was unveiled by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, at the 95th Ordinary session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in Abuja on Wednesday.
Touray revealed that Dangote has been chosen as the pioneer Chairperson of the ECOWAS Business Council, a new platform designed to mobilise private sector investment and support regional economic integration.
“We are moving forward with the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Business Council. We have identified Alhaji Aliko Dangote to be the pioneer Chairperson of the Council in view of his vast experience doing business within our subregion and across Africa.
“Through the Council, we hope to bring the private sector actors around the table as we discuss economic integration and development of our region.
“The Business Council will facilitate dialogue and partnership between the private sector, governments, and ECOWAS institutions,” he said.
The ECOWAS commission is seeking to reduce the region’s reliance on foreign investment by encouraging intra-regional capital flow.
This appetite for intra-regional investment underscores the need to mobilise capital within our region to build our Community rather than wait for precarious foreign investments.
“I am confident that with the kind of investments we have seen from the likes of Alhaji Dangote, our regional private sector actors can lead the way in the development of our Community, if given the right incentives and opportunity,” Touray said.
Financial stability remains a central concern for the regional bloc.
Touray highlighted the challenges facing the West African Power Pool, describing it as “our flagship regional electricity market platform that is currently facing challenges on account of debts owed by national electricity companies.”
He called on member states to support efforts to recover these debts as part of broader measures to strengthen the regional economy.
In addition to private sector mobilisation, Touray’s speech addressed ECOWAS’s wider agenda, including regional resilience, monetary integration, and the activation of a regional force to counter terrorism.
Updates on the annual work programme, budget, and audits of ECOWAS institutions were also presented for consideration.
“It is our hope that your deliberations on the various items on the agenda will pave the way for a region that is self-sufficient, free from external control and vulnerability to external economic shocks,” he said.
In his remarks, Sierra Leone’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Chairperson of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Timothy Kabba, urged West African nations to strengthen cooperation in addressing regional security, economic, and democratic challenges.
Opening the session, Kabba said, “This meeting reaffirms our steadfast dedication to regional cooperation, guided by our collective vision of an integrated and prosperous West Africa.”
The minister noted that over the course of the two-day session, ministers would review reports and memoranda aimed at improving the community’s economic and political integration.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Lagos, the founding document of ECOWAS, Kabba emphasised the importance of economic integration.
“We must persist in our effort to foster an environment conducive to the growth of the private sector, the principal catalyst of the economic integration agenda,” he said.
He called for greater intra-regional trade, improved transport and energy connectivity, and full utilisation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to advance regional development.