| 4) The free circulation of people and goods is still far away
An additional and more serious shortcoming in ECOWAS is that intra-community trade has not increased at the same pace as trade with the rest of the world. Transport routes run from North to South (from the Sahel down to the ports) but not East-West. The state of the road network in the region makes it easier to travel from Ouagadougou to Abidjan than from Ouagadougou to Lagos. Yet Lagos is not more distant than Abidjan.
The free circulation of persons and goods, one of the declared objectives of ECOWAS, is far from having become a reality. It is hampered by an array of "informal taxes".
In 2005 a truck with a trailer travelling from Brussels to Barcelona (1 369 km) had to pay €293 in road toll, i.e. €22/100km. In 2000 a truck going from Bamako, Mali to Dakar, Senegal (1 245km) had to pay an average of 17 to 20€ in illicit tolls along the way. At the end of the 90'ies, going the 100km between Lagos, Togo to Maiduguri in Northern Nigeria, close to the border with Cameroon, cost €22/100km. It is therefore in actual fact just as expensive to travel on a double lane road in West Africa, crossing through towns and villages, as on a four (or more) lane European highway;
| Number of toll check points on some of the main routes ( 2000) | | Route | Distance (km) | Check points | Check points per km | | Lagos - Abidjan | 992 | 69 | 14 | | Niamey - Ouagadougou | 337 | 20 | 17 | | Lomé - Ouagadougou | 989 | 34 | 29 | | Cotonou - Niamey | 1036 | 34 | 30 | | Abidjan - Ouagadougou | 1122 | 37 | 30 | | Accra - Ouagadougou | 972 | 15 | 65 | | Source : CEDEAO | 5) The rapid development of international trade with ECOWAS must be given careful consideration
In 1970 ECOWAS exported 68% of its output to Europe. In recent years (2003) the percentage was only 37%, whilst exports to Asia went up from 2% to 11%. This trend seems to accelerate.
At the same time imports of European products to the ECOWAS area fell from 62% to 42%, but imports from Asia shot up from 7% to 25%.
Europe now fears being overtaken by China and other Asian countries. That is why it is so keen on signing an Economic Partnership Agreement. But would it not be wise of ECOWAS to ponder if it is really in its best interest to hand itself over, hands and feet tied, to "gentle Europe"?
Maurice Oudet, 15 June, 2006 Part I Part III |
View from the South