On the Origins of ECOWAS

People often wonder what the history of the Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS) is? Who was the first to start it? I is it a legacy of colonialism? The truth is that it’s hard to pinpoint one country in particular that “pioneered” ECOWAS.

 

The Short Answer is that leaders from Nigeria and Togo (General Yakubu Gowon and Gnassingbe Eyadema, respectively) started pushing for the idea in the early 1970s. Subsequently, ECOWAS was born out of the 1975 Treaty of Lagos

 

General Yakubu Gowon

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