Post by Uche (@Dongalaxy)

Nigeria just proposed launching the Eco without the CFA countries in it at all

The ECOWAS single currency project has been delayed five times since 1983, and the latest fight is not just about timing anymore. It is about whether the Eco should be pegged to the euro like the CFA franc, or allowed to float freely, and that disagreement just pushed Nigeria to propose something bigger. Skip the CFA countries entirely in the first phase.

According to Nigeria's presidency, phase one should include Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Guinea and The Gambia, the non CFA members of ECOWAS, pending compliance with agreed convergence criteria. That would leave out all eight UEMOA countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, the bloc still using the euro pegged CFA franc guaranteed by the French Treasury.

The divide is not new. Nigeria has fought against a euro peg since at least 2020, when it listed non negotiable terms for joining any shared currency, including full ECOWAS control over management and printing done in Africa, not France. The francophone bloc has held onto the peg because it keeps inflation low, currently between 2 and 3 percent compared to a regional average closer to 15, but Nigeria and Ghana see that stability as a leash, not a safety net, one that ties their monetary future to decisions made in Paris and Frankfurt, not Abuja or Accra.

Central bank governors from all twelve current ECOWAS members reaffirmed the 2027 target in Monrovia. Whether that target includes eight of those twelve is now the real question.

If Nigeria launches its own version of the Eco without the CFA bloc, is that the moment West Africa finally builds monetary independence, or is that the moment ECOWAS quietly splits in two.

#HistoricalAfrica #ECOWAS #Eco #Nigeria #EconomicSovereignty

0 likes · 0 comments · 0 shares