The Economic Community of West African States has officially launched the ECOWAS National Citizen Engagement and Public Sensitization Campaign, themed “ECOWAS for all,” marking a strategic shift toward citizen-centered regional integration across the West African sub-region in Ghana.
Delivering welcome remarks on behalf of Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ambassador Khadijah Iddrisu highlighted that while ECOWAS marked 50 years since the signing of its founding Treaty of Lagos, true regional integration must move beyond governance structures to directly impact daily lives.
She emphasized that an ECOWAS built by governments alone cannot endure, noting that while the bloc offers real opportunities to travel, trade, work, and study across West Africa, many of these benefits remain unknown or out of reach.
Moving away from traditional diplomatic halls, the campaign takes sensitization efforts directly to primary economic and border hubs across Ghana. Outreach teams is expected to engage traders and residents at major commercial hubs like Makola Market and Madina, while conducting on-site forums at the Aflao and Elubo border posts along the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor to meet transport operators, small-scale traders, and border communities firsthand.
Parallel workshops across universities and second-cycle institutions will connect youth to regional opportunities.
To address border frustrations, Khadijah revealed that customs documentation issues, and transit hurdles, the initiative unites key state institutions, including the Ministry of the Interior, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, civil society organizations, and the media.
She concluded that feedback gathered throughout these grassroots engagements will directly feed into policy formulation at both national and regional levels, ensuring ECOWAS mechanisms serve the practical needs of West African citizens.
Eugenia Ewoenam Osei
