The Framework of Economic and Human Rights Under the ECOWAS Treaty

The Framework of Economic and Human Rights Under the ECOWAS Treaty: A Case Study of Implementation in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The 1975 ECOWAS Treaty made by the founding fathers of the West African Regional Integration Philosophy was revised in 1993 in view of the developments in the region and the new world order. ECOWAS is still the common partnership through which Member States attempt to aggregate their common dream and aspiration for a prosperous United Economic Union in the African sub-region.

The Integration instruments though very ambitious, made no pretension of the hopes and aspiration it seeks to achieve in this globalize and competitive world. The carry-over of Colonialism and the epileptic nature of the African Economy presents the coming together of African Countries synonymous with coming together to share poverty. The divide-and-rule strategy of the West has made the African States distrust themselves, so today, the Franco-phones speaking West Africans is suspicious of every move of the Anglophone on the Integration Ideology. Hence every state party does not want to concede anything out of its sovereignty to the organization but wants to harvest the whole benefit of integration.

In the main, this thesis attempts to bring to the fore both the Economic and Human Rights framework as enshrined in the ECOWAS Treaty and the journey so far, and the implementation of the acts and decisions of the community in Nigeria in particular. The first chapter introduces the research work. The second chapter considers the meaning of Treaty and Treaty as a source of international law. The third chapter of this thesis deals with the meaning, nature, and scope of Economic integration. The chapter also considers economic integration under the ECOWAS Treaty. The fourth chapter considers the analysis of the human rights framework under the ECOWAS Treaty. The fifth and concluding chapter summarizes the work and offers some far-reaching recommendations for policymakers and the operators of the ECOWAS Treaty.

This thesis presents to the reader a handy compendium of recent status and trends in the West African Integration agenda through ECOWAS and the issues, challenges, and prospects of the Organization, and the call for more commitments of State Parties to the ECOWAS Programmes.