Nigeria and the Ecowas Protocol on Free Movement and Residence

M. Leann Brown

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00000471

Nigeria and the Ecowas Protocol on Free Movement and Residence

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

M. Leann Brown

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M. Leann Brown: Affiliation:
Leverhulme Commonwealth/U.S.A. Visiting Fellow in the Department of International Relations, University of Keele, Staffordshire

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During the past 25 years, there have been several efforts by developing countries to establish regional economic institutions to address their poverty, underdevelopment, and external dependency. Although the economic imperatives and rationales for their creation intuitively seemed sufficient to ensure that the national political leaderships would choose to engage in whatever give-and-take was necessary to achieve their stated goals, the historical record reveals that these regional organisations have experienced uneven results at best. Several are now defunct. Why is this the case?

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 251 - 273

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00000471 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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^{page 251 note 1} The list includes the following, with the date of their establishment: 1960, Mercado Commún Centroamericano (M.C.C.A.); 1960, Asociación Latinoamericano de Libre Comercio (A.L.A.L.C.); 1961, Organisation commune africaine et malgache (O.C.A.M.); 1964, Union douanière et économique de l'Afrique centrale (U.D.E.A.C.); 1964, Comisión Económico Coordinado Latinoamericano (C.E.C.L.A.); 1967, Association of South-East Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.); 1967, East African Community (E.A.C.); 1969, Andean Common Market (Ancom); 1969, Southern African Customs Union (S.A.C.U.); 1973, Caribbean Community (Caricom); 1973, Mano River Union (M.R.U.); 1973, Communauté économique de l'Afrique de l'ouest (C.E.A.O.); 1975, Sistema Económico Latinoamericano (S.E.L.A.); 1975, Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas); 1975, Communauté économique des pays des Grands Lacs (C.E.P.G.L.); 1979, Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (S.A.D.C.C.); 1980, Asociación Latinoamericano de Integractión (A.L.A.D.I.); 1981, Eastern and Southern African Preferential Trade Area (E.S.A.P.T.A.); 1981, Communauté économique des états d'Afrique centrale (C.E.E.A.C.).

^{page 252 note 1} Falola, Toyin and Ihonvbere, Julius, The Rise and Fall of Nigeria's Second Republic, 1979–1984 (London, 1985), p. 191.Google Scholar

^{page 252 note 2} Although no accurate information is available on the actual number of illegal aliens working in Nigeria that were affected by the expulsion order, most estimates range between one and two million.

^{page 252 note 3} Alhaji Ali Baba, Minister of Internal Affairs, ‘On Aliens Residing in Nigeria…’, published in three documents dated 17 and 25 January and 14 February 1983.

^{page 252 note 4} West Africa (London), 24 01 1983, p. 233.Google Scholar

^{page 253 note 1} New Nigerian (Kaduna), 27 01 1983, p. 9.Google Scholar

^{page 253 note 2} West Africa, 31 January 1983, p. 245.

^{page 253 note 3} Ibid. 14 February 1983. The Economist (London), 5 02 1983, p. 49Google Scholar, claimed that no one would ever know the number of persons killed and buried in the bush or on the beaches along the 120-mile journey between Lagos and Accra.

^{page 254 note 1} Daily Times (Lagos), 1 02 1983, p. 17.Google Scholar

^{page 254 note 2} Sunday Punch (Lagos), 23 01 1983.Google Scholar

^{page 254 note 3} West Africa, 31 January 1983, p. 245.

^{page 254 note 4} The New York Times, 3 February 1983, p. A12.

^{page 254 note 5} Gravil, Roger, ‘The Nigerian Aliens Expulsion Order of 1983’, in African Affairs (London), 84, 337, 10 1985, pp. 523–37.Google Scholar

^{page 254 note 6} Sunday Concord (Lagos), 13 02 1983.Google Scholar

^{page 254 note 7} The New York Times, 29 January 1983, p. A24.

^{page 255 note 1} As reported in National Concord (Lagos), 8 02 1983.Google Scholar

^{page 255 note 2} The New York Times, 2 February 1983, p. A1.

^{page 255 note 3} New Nigerian, 16 February 1983, p. 1.

^{page 255 note 4} Asante, S. K. B., The Political Economy of Regionalism in Africa: a decade of the Economic Community of West African States (New York, 1986), pp. 150–1,Google Scholar and Treaty of E.C.O.W.A.S. (Lagos, 1975), Article 27 (1).Google Scholar

^{page 256 note 1} ECOWAS Document ECW/HSG/1/21, Rev. 1.

^{page 256 note 2} Ibid. ECW/HSG/II.7, Rev. 1.

^{page 256 note 3} Asante, op. cit. pp. 151–2.

^{page 256 note 4} Gravil, loc. cit. pp. 529, comments that ‘Many [of the boundaries] were drawn… “with a Frenchman's ruler” and the common view among the Yoruba, for instance, was that Nigeria's western border divided the French from the British, not the Africans from each other.’

^{page 256 note 5} Brann, C. M. B., ‘Old Style Mobility of ECOWAS Peoples’, in West Africa, 8 September 1980, p. 1711,Google Scholar as quoted by Onwuka, R. I., ‘The ECOWAS Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons: a threat to Nigerian security?’, in African Affairs, 81, 323, 04 1982, p. 199.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 257 note 1} Africa Research Bulletin (Exeter), 15 07 1971, p. 2130.Google Scholar

^{page 257 note 2} Daily Times, 6 May 1978.

^{page 257 note 3} Julius Emeka Okolo, ‘West African Regional Integration: ECOWAS’, 25th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 27 March–1 April 1984, p. 35.

^{page 257 note 4} Onwuka, loc. cit. pp. 196–7.

^{page 257 note 5} Daily Times, 20 February 1981.

^{page 257 note 6} Nigerian Tribune (Ibadan), 26 02 1981.Google Scholar

^{page 258 note 1} West Africa, 22 June 1981, p. 1393.

^{page 258 note 2} Ibid. 24 May 1982, pp. 1369 and 1371.

^{page 258 note 3} Asante, op. cit. p. 204.

^{page 258 note 4} Cape Verde joined the original 15 in 1977.

^{page 258 note 5} Ojo, Olatunde J. B., ‘Nigeria and the Formation of ECOWAS’, in International Organization (Cambridge, Mass.), Autumn 1980, p. 573.Google Scholar

^{page 259 note 1} Daily Times, 6 May 1979, p. 10.

^{page 259 note 2} Ojo, loc. cit. p. 593.

^{page 259 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 259 note 4} Haas, Ernst B., ‘The Study of Regional Integration: reflections on the joy and anguish of pretheorizing’, in Lindberg, Leon N. and Scheingold, Stuart A. (eds.), Regional Integration: theory and research (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), p. 11.Google Scholar

^{page 260 note 1} Ojo, loc. cit. pp. 600–1.

^{page 260 note 2} The purpose of the Fund is to provide capital for regional development projects and to disburse compensation to member-states that suffer loss as a result of either the trade liberalisation programme or the location of Community enterprises. Togo was chosen as the headquarters because of the Fund's shared activities with the Lomé Convention.

^{page 260 note 3} Punch (Lagos), 26 01 1982, p. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 260 note 4} Okolo, op. cit. p. 39.

^{page 260 note 5} Asante, op. cit. p. 100.

^{page 260 note 6} West Africa, 22 June 1981, pp. 1393–5.

^{page 260 note 7} Africa Research Bulletin, 15 July 1981, p. 6072.

^{page 261 note 1} New Nigerian, 20 January 1983, p. 5.

^{page 262 note 1} Nigerian Yearbook, 1983 (Lagos, 1983), p. 100.Google Scholar

^{page 262 note 2} Wall Street Journal (New York), 18 02 1983, p. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 262 note 3} Ibid. 24 March 1982, p. 8.

^{page 262 note 4} Balabkins, Nicholas, Indigenization and Economic Development: the Nigerian experience (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1982), pp. 125–6.Google Scholar

^{page 262 note 5} Olayiwola, Peter O., Petroleum and Structural Change in a Country: the case of Nigeria (New York, 1987).Google Scholar

^{page 263 note 1} Zartman, I. William (ed.), The Political Economy of Nigeria (New York, 1983).Google Scholar

^{page 263 note 2} Watts, Michael and Lubeck, Paul, ‘The Popular Classes and the Oil Boom: a political economy of rural and urban poverty’, in Zartman, (ed.), op. cit. pp. 150–94.Google Scholar

^{page 263 note 3} Falola and Ihonvbere, op. cit. pp. 150–2.

^{page 264 note 1} New Nigerian, 19 November 1981, p. 13.

^{page 264 note 2} Liberation News (Ibadan/Ife), 1, 3, February 1983, pp. 1 and 8, cited in Falola and Ihonvbere, op. cit. p. 152.

^{page 264 note 3} West Africa, 7 February 1983, pp. 307 and 309.

^{page 264 note 4} National Concord, 27 February 1981.

^{page 265 note 1} Daily Times, 7 February 1983, p. 21.

^{page 265 note 2} Punch, 27 January 1983, p. 2.

^{page 265 note 3} New Nigerian, 25 February 1983, p. 2.

^{page 265 note 4} Ibid. 28 January 1983, p. 9.

^{page 265 note 5} Wright, Stephen, ‘Nigeria: a mid-term assessment’, in The World Today (London), 03 1982, pp. 105–13.Google Scholar

^{page 265 note 6} West Africa, 23 November 1981, p. 2756.

^{page 266 note 1} New Nigerian, 28 January 1983, p. 1.

^{page 266 note 2} Daily Sketch (Ibadan), 18 01 1983, p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 266 note 3} Daily Times, 20 January 1983, p. 3.

^{page 266 note 4} The New York Times, 3 February 1983, p. A12.

^{page 266 note 5} Aluko, Olajide, ‘The Expulsion of Illegal Aliens from Nigeria: a study in Nigeria's decisionmaking’, in African Affairs, 84, 337, 10 1985, p. 541.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 267 note 1} West Africa, 7 March 1983, p. 591.

^{page 267 note 2} Tijjani, Aminu and Williams, David (eds.), Shehu Shagari: my vision of Nigeria (London, 1981), pp. 202–3.Google Scholar Shagari also briefly mentioned some of the Community's persistent problems: the non-payment of membership contributions, and staffing inadequacies.

^{page 267 note 3} West Africa, 21 February 1983, p. 499.

^{page 268 note 1} The Economist, 29 January 1983, p. 44.

^{page 268 note 2} Ibid. 5 February 1983, p. 13.

^{page 268 note 3} Williams, David, The President and Power in Nigeria (London, 1982), p. 197.Google Scholar

^{page 269 note 1} Falola and Ihonvbere, op. cit. pp. 75–9.

^{page 269 note 2} Ibid. p. 184, and Williams, op. cit. p. 210.

^{page 269 note 3} West Africa, 28 February 1983, p. 531.

^{page 270 note 1} Aluko, loc. cit. pp. 542–4.

^{page 270 note 2} Gravil, loc. cit. p. 526.

^{page 270 note 3} New Nigerian, 30 January 1983, p. 1.

^{page 270 note 4} Daily Times, 26 January 1983, p. 2.

^{page 270 note 5} New Nigerian, 5 February 1983, p. 8.

^{page 271 note 1} Gravil, loc. cit. p. 527.

^{page 271 note 2} Nigerian Observer (Benin City), 28 07 1973, p. 3.Google Scholar Nigeria's Minister of External Affairs denied that the Federal Government's actions had anything to do with the earlier expulsions. See West Africa, 21 February 1983, p. 471. However, the existing precedent for this response to economic difficulty made the evictions less abhorrent to Nigeria's neighbours and Ecowas partners.

^{page 272 note 1} Asante, op. cit. p. 159.

^{page 272 note 2} Ibid. p. 100.

^{page 272 note 3} Onyemelukwe, J. O. C., Industrialization in West Africa (New York, 1984), p. 205.Google Scholar

^{page 273 note 1} Asante, op. cit. p. 160.

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