By Kirk Leigh
The Economic Community of West African States has unveiled a fresh drive to anchor its economic recovery efforts in the strength of the region’s private sector, appointing Africa’s richest industrialist, Aliko Dangote, as the inaugural chair of a new ECOWAS Business Council.
The announcement was made by Omar Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, at the opening of the 95th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in Abuja on Wednesday. Touray said the Business Council would serve as a long-overdue bridge between policymakers and the continent’s most influential investors, aimed at reducing the bloc’s dependence on foreign capital and insulating its economies from external shocks.
“We are moving forward with the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Business Council,” Touray said. “We have identified Alhaji Aliko Dangote to be the pioneer Chairperson of the Council in view of his vast experience doing business within our sub-region and across Africa.”
The task before the new council is wide-ranging: revitalise economic integration, strengthen dialogue between business and government, and push for greater intra-regional investment at a time of heightened political and financial volatility. Touray argued that the region’s private investors — long overshadowed by foreign financiers — now have both the capacity and motivation to drive growth “if given the right incentives and opportunity.”
A region under strain
Touray did not shy away from outlining the pressures facing ECOWAS. The West African Power Pool, once hailed as the bloc’s flagship energy-market project, is now mired in debt due to chronic arrears from national electricity companies. The Commission urged member states to help recover the outstanding payments, arguing that regional financial stability cannot be restored without fixing the power sector that underpins it.
His speech also broadened to the bloc’s familiar agenda: economic resilience, monetary integration, and the activation of regional security structures — including a standby force — to confront the escalating wave of terrorism and violent extremism across the Sahel and coastal states.
Ministers were presented with updates on the annual work programme, budgets and audits of ECOWAS institutions, underscoring the scale of ongoing reforms. Touray closed with a pointed warning: “It is our hope that your deliberations will pave the way for a region that is self-sufficient, free from external control and vulnerability to external economic shocks.”
Ministers warn of deepening political fragility
Sierra Leone’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Timothy Kabba — who chairs the Council of Ministers — used his opening address to call for renewed cooperation in confronting regional insecurity and democratic backsliding. Marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Lagos, he stressed that the principles underpinning ECOWAS were being tested by a surge of coups and attempted coups.
“It is self-evident that no single nation can confront these challenges independently,” Kabba said. He urged member states to strengthen intelligence sharing, invest in regional peace and security initiatives, and operationalise the ECOWAS Standby Force.
He condemned recent coups and political instability, including the upheaval in Guinea-Bissau and the attempted coup in Benin, warning that such events “strike at the heart of constitutional order and the collective values that bind us.”
Nigeria cautions against democratic decay
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, delivered a stark assessment of the political climate. She pointed to prolonged transitions, governance deficits and forced constitutional changes as trends that threaten “hard-won development gains” and weaken regional cohesion.
She urged ministers to defend constitutional order, promote inclusive political dialogue and support credible transitions — warning that instability in one state quickly spills across borders.
Turning to the economic outlook, she emphasised the importance of leveraging the region’s demographic strength: more than 400 million people, 65% of them under 25. She argued that deepening intra-regional trade, strengthening value chains, and expanding opportunities for young people must remain at the heart of ECOWAS’s agenda.
A bloc battling multiple crises
Behind the diplomatic language lies a sobering reality. West Africa is grappling with an unprecedented convergence of political instability, economic fragility and humanitarian distress. Military regimes now govern Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, while Guinea-Bissau recently joined their ranks. The foiled coup in Benin underlined the fragility of even relatively stable states. Millions remain displaced across the region, driven by conflict, climate shocks and violent extremism.
These trends have injected urgency into ECOWAS’s latest attempt to rebuild cohesion and chart a path toward sustainable development. Whether the new Business Council — guided by Dangote and regional industrial leaders — can help reverse the trajectory remains an open question. But for now, ECOWAS appears intent on broadening the coalition of actors involved in safeguarding the region’s future, recognising that governments alone can no longer carry the burden.
