By Bola A. Akinterinwa
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was initially established as a sub-regional economic cooperation outfit in 1975. Seven complementary factors were considered in establishing the economic community: need for economic and social development of all the Member States; that economico-social development requires cooperation through concerted policy of self-reliance; that sub-regional economic integration progress requires assessment of economic interests of Member States; the need for a fair and equitable distribution of the benefits of cooperation; that bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation will enable wider cooperation; that efforts at sub-regional cooperation should not conflict with similar efforts at wider level of cooperation in Africa; and most importantly, the need to eliminate all types of obstacles to the free movement of goods, capital and persons.