President Patrice Talon of the Republic of Benin has urged West African leaders to recommit to regional integration, warning that the ongoing ECOWAS crisis must not derail efforts toward collective progress.
Speaking at the West Africa Economic Summit in Abuja on Saturday, Talon acknowledged the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger from the bloc and the growing influence of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), but maintained that ECOWAS remains a vital framework for cooperation.
“ECOWAS remains a perfect example of regional cooperation, but unfortunately, it is in crisis. This, however, should not prohibit us from pursuing further integration,” Talon said. He challenged West African leaders to move beyond rhetoric and focus on real-world implementation of development initiatives, insisting that the problem is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of execution.
“Our main blockage is not a lack of ideas, but the inability to realise them. It is the responsibility of leaders, from heads of state to ministers and government agencies, to turn ideas into reality.”
Talon praised President Bola Tinubu, current ECOWAS chair, for his leadership but called for greater regional and international support to back reform and integration efforts.
He also spotlighted persistent barriers to intra-regional trade, citing language divides, border delays, and infrastructure bottlenecks as major obstacles to economic growth.
“Despite heavy investments, infrastructure like the Lagos-Abidjan road still faces obstacles, checkpoints, and border harassment. It takes over a day to travel to Abidjan. A businessperson should be able to do that in a few hours.”
Talon warned that unless practical and urgent solutions are adopted, poverty will continue to threaten democracy and integration in West Africa. “Our region will remain poor if we do not remove these blockades. Without tackling poverty, democracy and integration will remain unattainable,” he concluded.
