Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso exit ECOWAS
In my last update, I posited that the United Nations is fading on its capacity to influence the world towards global peace, as most nations disregard whatever it does or says. Good People, my postulation is coming on the news that Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have exited ECOWAS membership. This is a very troubling pattern where few really care about supranational institutions like the UN and ECOWAS.
I do expect Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana to lead to ensure ECOWAS does not disintegrate into pieces. It has taken decades to build that economic alliance, we cannot allow it to just collapse overnight.
Your last statement sounded like 'Keeping Nigeria as one is a task that must be accomplished' declaration, the jury is still out there on how 'united' Nigeria has been since that infamous declaration.
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So the concept of 'Africa must be united' will need to be thoroughly examined. It doesn't help trying to unite people who don't seem to grasp the basis for united front, and without it properly understood, they will keep working at crossroads, doing everything possible to undermine one another.
It will not be wise enough to unite on the basis of free movement of goods and services, because that's akin to amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates, producing what we know today as Nigeria. That unification was not properly agreed on, so it does not make sense forcing all countries in Africa to see themselves as one. The nuances for any potential unity must be properly defined, debated and understood, so that some parties won't think or believe that they are there to serve the interests of others, with nothing for them.
That institutional knowhow and capability is still lacking within Africa, partly because internal leadership among members state is still weak and dysfunctional. We have so much work to do, if we are ready.
