Obasanjo tells ECOWAS to speed up integration

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo urged West African leaders on Thursday to adopt a two track-policy in the implementation of all agreed subregional programmes of integration. In his speech at the opening of the two-day summit of the Economic Community of West African States in Lome, Togo, he said that when three or more member states were ready to implement a particular programme they should be encouraged to do so. This would, he continued, be regarded as the "fast track" to which the "slower track" countries could join later. Nigeria, which together with Togo initiated ECOWAS, intended to join the fast-track in a number of programmes: These include the encouragement of free movement of people by eliminating rigid border formalities, supporting the ECOWAS free trade zone to be established at the end of the year, creating a second West African regional currency by ECOWAS members outside the CFA franc zone (which has been backed by the French treasury) with a view to merging them into a single currency. ECOWAS was set up in 1975. Its members are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. All but Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are members of the franc zone.