ECOWAS Celebrates 50 Years of Progress, Challenges

Addis Ababa, April 24, 2025 (ENA)— The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) marked its 50th anniversary.

 The Golden Jubilee brought together leaders and stakeholders gathered in Accra not just to celebrate a legacy, but to confront the region’s most pressing challenges.  

The Golden Jubilee provided a moment to look back on five decades of co-operation, and more crucially, to map a path forward in an era fraught with uncertainty, according to CHANNEL AFRICA.

Formed in May 1975, ECOWAS has long been hailed as one of Africa’s more cohesive and functional regional blocs.

 Over the years, it has helped facilitate trade, mobility, and political dialogue across West Africa, it was learned.

 Yet, amid the fanfare, this anniversary also brought an air of sober reflection. The vision that inspired its founding, of a unified region with shared prosperity, remains a work in progress.

Among the bloc’s long-standing ambitions is the establishment of a single regional currency, the ECO. Despite years of negotiations and planning, it remains unrealized symbolic of the broader integration goals that have struggled to fully materialize.

Security concerns also loomed large over the celebrations. The rise in terrorism and the resurgence of military coups in several member states, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, have tested ECOWAS’s unity and resilience. The military regimes in those countries, currently suspended from the bloc, were notably absent from the Jubilee proceedings.

Still, Ghana’s President John Mahama, who recently assumed the chairmanship of ECOWAS, struck a conciliatory tone. In his keynote address, he called for renewed engagement with the Sahel countries, urging the bloc to reopen diplomatic channels and avoid isolating member states under military rule.

“Dialogue must remain at the heart of our approach,” Mahama said, emphasizing that ECOWAS should not give up on countries experiencing political transitions. His remarks signalled a shift from the bloc’s earlier, more punitive stance, towards a more diplomatic and inclusive strategy.

Even before assuming office, Mahama had made it a point to connect with Sahelian leaders, including receiving Burkina Faso’s transitional president in Accra during his own inauguration, a rare gesture that set the tone for his leadership.

Beyond the ceremonial events, the anniversary also featured a high-level ministerial conference, where Foreign Affairs Ministers and regional officials convened to discuss peacebuilding efforts and regional security strategies.

 Central to the talks was the Accra Initiative, an intelligence-sharing framework among West African states aimed at countering terrorism and instability in the region.

These discussions tied directly into ECOWAS’s long-term vision for 2050, which aspires to create a peaceful, integrated, and economically robust West Africa.

However, with ongoing conflicts and political instability, many agree that achieving this vision will require more than aspirations; it will take bold leadership, collective resolve, and the willingness to adapt.