Opinion: Cameroon ought to join ECOWAS, here is why

By Ngala Hansel

There are a lot of people who are not quite sure where to place Cameroon, West or Central Africa. However, there is no disputing the fact that geographically speaking, Cameroon lies on the west coast of Africa.

So why is Cameroon not a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)?

The simple answer is a lack of political will by Cameroonian authorities. It would also seem that if Cameroon joined ECOWAS, she would be overshadowed by more powerful countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire. But is this sufficient reason for Cameroon not to join the economic bloc? Absolutely not.

Cameroon with a GDP of ( ) is the largest economy in the six-member Communaute Economique et Monetaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC) a bloc where France maintains a strong influence seeing as these are all former French colonies (with the exception of Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony).

However, there is no denying the fact that Cameroon joining ECOWAS would open the country to a larger market in the fifteen-member bloc with vibrant markets next door to Nigeria; Ghana, and Senegal.

Also, since Anglophone Cameroonian’s Northwest and Southwest regions (formerly the Southern Cameroons), have a history and culture that is more closely linked with Nigeria, most in these two regions would consider themselves West Africans.

For example, Mount Cameroon is usually referred to as the highest point in West Africa; renowned Cameroonian scientist, Prof. Victor Anoma Ngu was the founder of the West African College of Surgeons (though Cameroon today is not a member); Pidgin English which is a lingua franca all over English-speaking ECOWAS member states is also the lingua franca in Anglophone Cameroon.

Cameroon also has strong historical ties with what is mostly today’s ECOWAS as Cameroon was part of the region greatly pillaged during the West African Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade; Cameroon was at the center of discussions during the Berlin West African Conference in 1884 when Germany, host of the conference, claimed the region for itself.

In fact, the Encyclopedia Britannica states that Western Africa is the “region of the western African continent comprising the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.”

Also historically, Southern Cameroons (today’s Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon) was administered through Eastern Nigeria during colonial days, thus creating a cultural affinity that remains to this day. Nigerian movies and music are quite popular in this part of Cameroon and Ghanaian movies are also quite popular among Anglophone Cameroonians.

Cameroon is a country that defies any single stereotype because of its ambiguity. Two of the continent’s most widely spoken languages – French and English, are its official languages; the country is a member of La Francophonie (made up of former French colonies) and The Commonwealth (made up of former British colonies). The country straddles West and Central Africa, a fact that President Paul Biya acknowledged https://www.prc.cm/en/news/speeches-of-the-president/1779-international-economic-conference-of-yaounde-opening-speech-by-h-e-paul-biya-president-of-the-republic-of-cameroon in 2016 during the Cameroon Business Forum. He stated then that “Cameroon stands out thanks to its strategic position at the crossroads between West and Central Africa and at the intersection between the ECOWAS and CEMAC zones”.

This strategic location could play in Cameroon’s favor as ECOWAS has some 400 million inhabitants https://www.worlddata.info/trade-agreements/ecowas-west-africa

In March 2022, it was announced that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a member state of CEMAC to which Cameroon also belongs, had decided to join the East African Community. The BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60901159 reported that this decision was driven by the fact that this move “will allow Congolese citizens to travel freely to the other countries and trade will become much quicker, simpler and cheaper, which should benefit businesses and consumers in all countries…”.

So this makes one realize that membership in one bloc, does not preclude a country from another. If the DRC which is geographically in Central Africa can opt to join an East African body, then what more of Cameroon which is geographically in West Africa joining ECOWAS?

In June this year, Rwanda, a former French colony, hosted the Commonwealth Wealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022 (CHOGM). During that meeting, Togo and Gabon, also former French colonies were admitted https://thecommonwealth.org/news/gabon-and-togo-join-commonwealth as the newest members of the organization.

So Cameroon has every reason to join ECOWAS even if the region has been experiencing a wave of coups. ECOWAS has shown itself more ready or at least capable, of enforcing democratic values than CEMAC has.

Cameroon being a member would strengthen Cameroonian political institutions because ECOWAS has shown itself more determined to enforce democratic values and good governance than CEMAC has. For example, in December 2016, ECOWAS forces were placed on high alert and were to use force if necessary to eject Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gambia-politics-idUSKBN14C0R3 in case the latter tried to hang on to power when his mandate expired in January 2017. More recently, ECOWAS imposed severe economic sanctions on Mali following a military two military coups there in 2020 and 2021. The sanctions were only lifted on July 3, 2022, after soldiers pledged to hold elections in 2024.  These kinds of trends are simply unheard of in CEMAC.

As already alluded to, the ECOWAS region is far more integrated (travel/movement of goods and people, economic policy harmonization, political oversight, regional security, infrastructure, common currency initiatives, etc.). This makes ECOWAS a much more relevant organization than CEMAC. CEMAC is still struggling to have a solid market and trade within the region https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/CEMAC_ECOWAS.html amounts to a mere 2% of total imports and 1% of total exports. Ironically trade between CEMAC and Nigeria alone is higher than trade among all six CEMAC countries. The common market is still far away and the economic integration is even further off according to experts https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/CEMAC_ECOWAS.html

So in summary, if Cameroon’s 23 million people are to have better economic lives, then the leadership of Cameroon must seriously consider giving Cameroon access to the fifteen-member state ECOWAS bloc by joining it.