Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says the Federal Government is committed to the implementation of a single currency for the Economic Community of West African States.
The minister said the single-currency ‘ECO’ would foster economic growth and development in the West African region.
A statement issued at the weekend by the Finance Ministry’s spokesman, Mohammed Manga, said Edun expressed Nigeria’s commitment to the single currency when he hosted a virtual high-level committee meeting in Abuja.
The meeting, according to Manga, brought together key stakeholders from the Central Bank of Nigeria; Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Olavo Correia; Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of Cote d’Ivoire, Adama Coulibaly; and the Ghanaian Minister of Finance, Mohammed Amin Adam; as well as other distinguished representatives.
The minister was quoted to have “emphasized the importance of the ‘ECO’ in fostering economic growth and development in the region and reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to the successful implementation of the single currency” at the meeting.
The ‘ECO’ aims to promote economic integration, facilitate trade, and enhance monetary stability among the fifteen member ECOWAS states.
Meanwhile, the military regimes of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso marked their divorce from the rest of West Africa on Saturday, with Niger’s ruling general saying the junta-led countries have “turned their backs on” the regional bloc.
The three country’s leaders are taking part in the first summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), set up after pulling out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) earlier this year.
“Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Niger’s ruling General Abdourahamane Tiani told his fellow Sahel strongmen at the gathering’s opening in the Nigerien capital Niamey.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger set up the mutual defence pact in September, leaving the wider Economic Community of West African States bloc in January.
Their ECOWAS exit was fuelled in part by their accusation that Paris was manipulating the bloc, and not providing enough support for anti-jihadist efforts.
“The AES is the only effective sub-regional grouping in the fight against terrorism,” Tiani declared on Saturday, calling ECOWAS “conspicuous by its lack of involvement in this fight”.
The exit came as the trio shifted away from former colonial ruler France, with Tiani calling for the new bloc to become a “community far removed from the stranglehold of foreign powers”.
All the three have expelled anti-jihadist French troops and turned instead towards what they call their “sincere partners” — Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Given the deadly jihadist violence the three countries face, “the fight against terrorism” and the “consolidation of cooperation” will be on Saturday’s agenda, according to the Burkinabe presidency.
