Morocco is fishing in troubled waters. Its audacious application to become a member of the Economic Community of West African States is fuelling disquiet in the 15-member country regional bloc. Aiming to expand its frontiers, the Mediterranean country applied to join ECOWAS in January. And, egged on by a tiny clique, ECOWAS has agreed in principle to admit Morocco.
At play are expansionism, influence peddling and politics. But the proof of the trouble in ECOWAS ranks emerged during its 51st summit in Monrovia, Liberia, where Ellen Sirleaf handed over the chairmanship to Togo’s Faure Gnassingbe. Morocco, citing the invitation extended to Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, boycotted the two-day meeting. King Mohammed VI, who was scheduled to attend his inaugural summit with the other 15 heads of state in ECOWAS, said he was not disposed to attending the summit with an Israeli leader since “the two nations do not share diplomatic relations.”
Morocco’s admission speaks volumes about the fragility and chaotic decision-making process in ECOWAS. The ultimate objective of ECOWAS, which was consummated in May 1975 through the perceptive vision of Nigeria’s then Head of State Yakubu Gowon and Togo’s Gnassingbe Eyadema, is the “creation of a homogeneous society, leading to the unity of West Africa….”
But the Moroccan authorities are upbeat about the North African kingdom’s incursion into sub-Saharan Africa. It is argued that the move will deepen Morocco’s economic penetration of the sub-region. According to Morocco World News, the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline constitutes for Morocco a unique factor in integrating with West Africa, which will bring new growth dynamics to the region as a whole. The project, which will transport natural gas from Nigeria to Morocco and from there to Europe, is “aimed to create a competitive regional electricity market with the potential to be connected to the European energy markets.”
But Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, says the issue is the biggest challenge to Nigeria’s foreign policy since the Civil War. Akinyemi says the Moroccan move is motivated by bad faith driven by the desire to whittle down Nigeria’s influence in ECOWAS and, by extension, in the world.Indeed, by the reason of geography, the admission of Morocco, a North African country that belongs tothe Arab Maghreb Union, shares no physical boundaries with West African countries. For instance, apart from the commitment to the ideals of a market economy and stable democratic institutions, a key criterion for joining the European Union is that a country must be part of the continent. This is a sound basis for regional integration, which ECOWAS should also pursue.
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As a bona fide member, Morocco will seek to dominate the union at the expense of every other country, Nigeria inclusive. Morocco should never be in a position to choose the friends ECOWAS should have. The leaders of the bloc have committed a political gaffe. They need to reverse this, and also cancel the application of Tunisia, another Mediterranean country seeking ECOWAS membership.
Tactically, Nigeria reduced its representation at the Monrovia summit. Although President Muhammadu Buhari is abroad on medical vacation, Nigeria’s low-key presence at the summit was instructive. Why is Abuja falling over itself to please Morocco? Has it become so feckless that Morocco is now dictating its foreign policy direction? Instead, Nigeria should be sensitive as to why Morocco is making inroads into West Africa. Without stating so, Morocco’s grand aim is to expand and consolidate its economic opportunities through the expansion of its exports to the vast West African market of 371 million people, based on the United Nations estimates.
Nigeria should not flinch, but should resist Morocco’s attempts to hijack the organisation. More than any other country, Nigeria has contributed immensely to making the ECOWAS vision of economic integration, monetary convergence, abolition of Customs and tariffs and the free movement of people, goods and services a reality. Successive Nigerian leaders have played critical roles in stabilising the region in the past 40 years.
Key military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Ivory Coast, when these countries underwent devastating internecine conflict, underscore Nigeria’s vital role in ECOWAS. As a regional political bloc, it has been involved militarily in quenching the civil strife in Guinea Bissau through ECOMIB since a 2012 coup. Last year, Buhari led other ECOWAS leaders to prevent a disaster in The Gambia when they persuaded the then reluctant incumbent Yahya Jammeh to step aside after he lost the presidential election to Adama Barrow. It established ECOMIG to stabilise the country.
Economically, Morocco’s membership is likely to be against Nigeria’s objectives of setting up ECOWAS. It should be easy for our political leaders to see this. With Nigeria moving to retool its economy to make it export-oriented, it will be disadvantaged from its primary market in West Africa as Morocco, whose economy is currently more productive, would have established its presence there. Therefore, whatever position Nigeria has taken before, it has to repel Morocco’s incursion into ECOWAS.
This is a time for Nigeria to benefit from its huge investments in the bloc. By agreeing to Morocco’s inclusion, Nigeria compromises its future on the altar of naivety. Apart from agreements with ECOWAS in the areas of homeland and cybersecurity, Netanyahu also pledged at the June summit to funnel an investment of $15 billion to it. In October, Tel Aviv will stage the Israel/Africa summit in Togo, a summit that will involve 25 African countries. By following Morocco’s footsteps and staying away from the summit, Nigeria will miss out on these potential deals.
Morocco’s ECOWAS membership will turn geography on its head. In the long run, West African countries are likely to be worse off from this baseless association. ECOWAS’Authority of Heads of State and Government should quickly cancel Morocco’s membership outright.
