ECOWAS risks losing US$1bn in investments due to withdrawal of its three coup-hit members

Trade between Nigeria and neighboring Niger has bounced back since the West African bloc ECOWAS lifted sanctions on the latter coup-hit country, just as the president of the ECOWAS Commission admits Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso’s withdrawal will cost the regional bloc as much as US$1 billion.
In January 2024, the three countries led by military juntas announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), citing “illegal sanctions” imposed against them and accusing the regional bloc of becoming a threat to member states. But the President of ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, has now warned that the withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from the bloc puts ECOWAS’ investments worth nearly US$1 billion at risk. Speaking at the inauguration of the 6th ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja (4 April) warned that “on the economic and financial front, the withdrawal of the three states could result in default or suspension of all ECOWAS projects and programs in these countries, worth more than US$500 million.”
Meanwhile, after the sanctions against Niger were lifted in late February, trade has now resumed between Niger and Nigeria and a new Chinese-funded railway promises to boost the local economy further. Under ECOWAS sanctions traders and communities on both sides of the Niger-Nigeria border suffered, but experts say that the measures largely failed to achieve their aims. Instead, the only real result of the border closure was the devastation of local communities on both sides of the frontier with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trade lost. But in recent weeks, a semblance of normality has reportedly returned to the border area, with business people being able to move freely between the neighboring nations. With the borders now open, the planned China-funded railway line promises to boost the trade further.