President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said there was need for cooperation and compliance to agreed process to achieve strategic Monetary Union among ECOWAS Member States.
President Buhari, who made this call in a series of tweets on Tuesday said he wasn’t happy that some members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (also known by its French acronym, UEMOA) had decided to replace CFA Franc with the ECO ahead of other ECOWAS Member States.
The UEMOA members include, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
The president, however, didn’t name any specific country in his Tuesday tweets.
President Buhari said that while Nigeria was committed to monetary union to promote regional prosperity and sovereignty, such ambition must be pursued in compliance with set standards.
He said, “It gives me an uneasy feeling that the UEMOA Zone wishes to take up the Eco in replacement for its CFA Franc ahead of other ECOWAS Member States. It‘s a matter of concern that a people with whom we wish to go into a union are taking major steps without trusting us for discussion.
“Nigeria fully supports and is committed to a monetary union with the right fundamentals—a union which guarantees credibility, sustainability and overall regional prosperity and sovereignty. But we must do things properly and ensure absolute compliance with the set standards.
Urging African countries to comply with agreed process to realise a strategic Monetary Union as an ECOWAS bloc, he said “We cannot ridicule ourselves by entering a union to disintegrate, potentially no sooner than we enter into it. We need to be clear and unequivocal about our position regarding this process.
“We must also communicate same to the outside world effectively. We have all staked so much in this project to leave things to mere expediencies and convenience.
“We must proceed with caution and comply with the agreed process of reaching our collective goal while treating each other with utmost respect. Without these, our ambitions for a strategic Monetary Union as an ECOWAS bloc could very well be in serious jeopardy”.
