Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Finally Exit ECOWAS In 2025

…As Nigeria Clears N85bn, $54m Levy

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have officially announced their decision to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Their decision was disclosed on Sunday by the President of the ECOWAS commission, Alieu Touray, during the 66th ordinary session of heads of states and governments, held in Abuja.

According to him, the countries’ exit from the commission will be between January 29, 2025, to July 29, 2025, adding that the timeframe would allow for last mediations or possible diplomatic interventions.

“The authority takes note of the notification by Burkina Faso, the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger of their decision to withdraw from ECOWAS,” he said.

“The authority acknowledges that in accordance with the provisions of Article 91 of the revised ECOWAS treaty, the three countries will officially cease to be members of ECOWAS from 29 January 2025.

“The authority decides to set the period from 29 January 2025 to 29 July 2025 as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS doors open to the three countries during the transition period.

”In this regard, the authority extends the mandate of President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, and President Faye of Senegal to continue their mediation rule up to the end of the transition period to bring the three member countries back to ECOWAS.

According to Touray, withdrawal formalities will commence after the January 29, 2025 deadline, and a contingency plan will be developed to address the political and economic implications of the exit.

“The authority directs the council of ministers to convene an extraordinary session during the second quarter of 2025 to consider and adopt both separation modalities and the contingency plan covering political and economic relations between ECOWAS and the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Mali and Burkina Faso,” he said.

“After deliberations, their excellencies, the authority members of the authority of ECOWAS, heads of state and government, commend the exemplary diplomatic engagement of His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Faye, President of the Republic of Senegal, and His Excellency Faure Gnassingbé President of the Togolese Republic, and the diplomatic efforts of the chairman of authority, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other individual member states towards these three countries,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has made its first full payment of the ECOWAS levy in 19 years, contributing N85.54 billion and $54 million for 2023 and part of 2024.

Also announcing it on Sunday, during the summit, the ECOWAS president thanked the country for maintaining a leading role in the region, describing the payment as “a vote of confidence” and its leadership.

Nigeria which had struggled to meet its financial obligations finally made the payment on December 13 in a further demonstration of its commitment towards the development of the West African region.

Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Finally Exit ECOWAS In 2025 is first published on The Whistler Newspaper