Economic Community of West African states - Wikipedia Economic Community of West African states This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. ( January 2017 ) Economic Community of West African States Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest ( French ) Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental ( Portuguese ) Emblem Headquarters Abuja, Nigeria 9 ° 2 ′ 35 '' N 7 ° 31 ′ 32 '' E ﻿ / ﻿ 9.04306 ° N 7.52556 ° E ﻿ / 9.04306 ; 7.52556 Official languages French English Portuguese Membership 15 members Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea - Bissau Ivory Coast Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Leaders Chairman Faure Gnassingbe President of the Commission Marcel Alain de Souza Speaker of the Parliament Moustapha Cissé Lô Establishment Treaty of Lagos 28 May 1975 Area Total 5,114,162 km ( 1,974,589 sq mi ) ( 7th ) Population 2015 estimate 349,154,000 ( 3rd ) Density 68.3 / km ( 176.9 / sq mi ) GDP ( PPP ) 2015 estimate Total US $1.483 trillion ( 18th ) Per capita US $4,247 GDP ( nominal ) estimate Total $675 billion 2015 ( 21st ) Per capita $1,985 Currency Escudo ( CVE ) Cedi ( GHS ) Dalasi ( GMD ) Franc ( GNF ) Dollar ( LRD ) Naira ( NGN ) Leone ( SLL ) W. African CFA franc ( XOF ) Time zone ( UTC + 0 to + 1 ) Website http://www.ecowas.int/ If considered as a single entity. To be replaced by the eco. Liberia and Sierra Leone have expressed an interest in joining the eco. The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS ( French : Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, CEDEAO ; Portuguese : Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental, CEDEAO ), is a regional economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of 5,114,162 km ( 1,974,589 sq mi ), and in 2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million. The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region. A revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou. Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent - wide African Economic Community ( AEC ), the states goal of ECOWAS is to achieve `` collective self - sufficiency '' for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union. ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region, with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene in the bloc 's member countries at times of political instability and unrest. In recent years these included interventions in Ivory Coast in 2003, Liberia in 2003, Guinea - Bissau in 2012, Mali in 2013, and Gambia in 2017. ECOWAS includes two sub-regional blocs : The West African Economic and Monetary Union ( also known by its French - language acronym UEMOA ) is an organization of eight, mainly French - speaking, states within the ECOWAS which share a customs union and currency union. Established in 1994 and intended to counterbalance the dominance of English - speaking economies in the bloc ( such as Nigeria and Ghana ), members of UEMOA are mostly former territories of French West Africa. The currency they all use is the CFA franc, which is pegged to the euro. The West African Monetary Zone ( WAMZ ), established in 2000, comprises six mainly English - speaking countries within ECOWAS which plan to work towards adopting their own common currency, the eco. ECOWAS operates in three co-official languages -- French, English, and Portuguese, and consists of two institutions to implement policies : the ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development ( EBID ), formerly known as the Fund for Cooperation until it was renamed in 2001. A few members of the organization have come and gone over the years. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999. In 2011, ECOWAS adopted its development blueprint for the next decade, Vision 2020, and, to accompany it, a Policy on Science and Technology ( ECOPOST ). Contents 1 Member states 2 Structure 2.1 President of the Commissions 2.2 Chairpersons 2.3 Regional security co-operation 2.4 Community Parliament 2.5 Expanded ECOWAS Commission 2.6 Community Court of Justice 2.7 Sporting and cultural exchange 3 Economic integration 3.1 West African Economic and Monetary Union ( UEMOA ) 3.1. 1 Membership 3.2 West African Monetary Zone 3.2. 1 Membership 4 Transport 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Member states As of February 2017, ECOWAS has 15 member states, eight of these are French - speaking, five are English - speaking and two Portuguese - speaking. All current members joined the community as founding members in May 1975, except Cape Verde which joined in 1977. The only former member of ECOWAS is Arabic - speaking Mauritania, which was also one of the founding members in 1975 and decided to withdraw in December 2000. Morocco officially requested to join ECOWAS in February 2017. The application was endorsed at the summit of heads of state in June 2017. Statistics for population, nominal GDP and purchase price parity GDP listed below are taken from World Bank estimates for 2015, published in December 2016. Area data is taken from a 2012 report compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division. ECOWAS ZONE A MEMBER STATES Country Area ( km ) Population ( thousands ) GDP ( nominal ) ( millions USD ) GDP ( PPP ) ( millions intl. $ ) Currency Official language Cape Verde 7003403300000000000 ♠ 4,033 7002521000000000000 ♠ 521 7003160300000000000 ♠ 1,603 7003341300000000000 ♠ 3,413 escudo Portuguese Gambia 7004112950000000000 ♠ 11,295 7003199100000000000 ♠ 1,991 7002939000000000000 ♠ 939 7003334400000000000 ♠ 3,344 dalasi English Guinea 7005245857000000000 ♠ 245,857 7004126090000000000 ♠ 12,609 7003669900000000000 ♠ 6,699 7004152440000000000 ♠ 15,244 franc French Guinea - Bissau 7004361250000000000 ♠ 36,125 7003184400000000000 ♠ 1,844 7003105700000000000 ♠ 1,057 7003268500000000000 ♠ 2,685 CFA franc Portuguese Liberia 7005111369000000000 ♠ 111,369 7003450300000000000 ♠ 4,503 7003205300000000000 ♠ 2,053 7003376200000000000 ♠ 3,762 dollar English Mali 7006124019200000000 ♠ 1,240,192 7004176000000000000 ♠ 17,600 7004127470000000000 ♠ 12,747 7004356950000000000 ♠ 35,695 CFA franc French Senegal 7005196712000000000 ♠ 196,712 7004151290000000000 ♠ 15,129 7004136100000000000 ♠ 13,610 7004366250000000000 ♠ 36,625 CFA franc French Sierra Leone 7004723000000000000 ♠ 72,300 7003645300000000000 ♠ 6,453 7003421500000000000 ♠ 4,215 7004101270000000000 ♠ 10,127 leone English ECOWAS ZONE A Total 7006191788300000000 ♠ 1,917,883 7004605500000000000 ♠ 60,550 7004429230000000000 ♠ 42,923 7005110895000000000 ♠ 110,895 & -- & -- ECOWAS ZONE B MEMBER STATES Country Area ( km ) Population ( thousands ) GDP ( nominal ) ( millions USD ) GDP ( PPP ) ( millions intl. $ ) Currency Official language Benin 7005114763000000000 ♠ 114,763 7004108800000000000 ♠ 10,880 7003829100000000000 ♠ 8,291 7004223770000000000 ♠ 22,377 CFA franc French Burkina Faso 7005272967000000000 ♠ 272,967 7004181060000000000 ♠ 18,106 7004106780000000000 ♠ 10,678 7004307080000000000 ♠ 30,708 CFA franc French Ghana 7005238533000000000 ♠ 238,533 7004274100000000000 ♠ 27,410 7004375430000000000 ♠ 37,543 7005115409000000000 ♠ 115,409 cedi English Ivory Coast 7005322463000000000 ♠ 322,463 7004227020000000000 ♠ 22,702 7004317590000000000 ♠ 31,759 7004797660000000000 ♠ 79,766 CFA franc French Niger 7006126700000000000 ♠ 1,267,000 7004198990000000000 ♠ 19,899 7003714300000000000 ♠ 7,143 7004190130000000000 ♠ 19,013 CFA franc French Nigeria 7005923768000000000 ♠ 923,768 7005182202000000000 ♠ 182,202 7005481066000000000 ♠ 481,066 7006109392100000000 ♠ 1,093,921 Naira English Togo 7004567850000000000 ♠ 56,785 7003730500000000000 ♠ 7,305 7003408800000000000 ♠ 4,088 7004106670000000000 ♠ 10,667 CFA franc French ECOWAS ZONE B Total 7006319627900000000 ♠ 3,196,279 7005277502000000000 ♠ 277,502 7005580568000000000 ♠ 580,568 7006137186100000000 ♠ 1,371,861 & -- & -- Structure President of the Commissions African Union This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the African Union Institutions Casablanca Group Union of African States Organisation of African Unity African Economic Community African Unification Front Executive Assembly Chairperson Commission Chairperson Conference and Events Peace & Sec. 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Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, and Immigration Industry, Sci. & Tech., Energy, Natural Resources, & Environment Transport, Comm., Tourism Health, Labor, Social Edu., Culture, & Human Resources Financial bodies AEC Pillars ( Abuja Treaty ) CEN - SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS / CEEAC CEMAC ECOWAS UEMOA WAMZ IGAD SADC SACU AMU / UMA African Central Bank African Monetary Union African Investment Bank New Partnership for Africa 's Development African Peer Review Mechanism Decentralised bodies Agencies of the AU Related topics Enlargement Foreign relations TerrAfrica partnership Other countries Atlas President Country In office Inaugural holder Aboubakar Diaby Ouattara Ivory Coast January 1977 -- 1985 Momodu Munu Sierra Leone 1985 -- 1989 Abass Bundu Sierra Leone 1989 -- 1993 Édouard Benjamin Guinea 1993 -- 1997 Lansana Kouyaté Guinea September 1997 -- 31 January 2002 Mohamed Ibn Chambas Ghana 1 February 2002 -- 31 December 2007 Mohamed Ibn Chambas Ghana 1 January 2007 -- 18 February 2010 Victor Gbeho Ghana 18 February 2010 -- 1 March 2012 Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo Burkina Faso 1 March 2012 -- 4 June 2016 Marcel Alain de Souza Benin 4 June 2016 -- present Chairpersons Chairperson Country In office Yakubu Gowon Nigeria 28 May 1975 -- 29 July 1975 Gnassingbé Eyadéma Togo 29 July 1975 -- 13 September 1977 Olusegun Obasanjo Nigeria 13 September 1977 -- 30 September 1979 Léopold Sédar Senghor Senegal 30 September 1979 -- 31 December 1980 Gnassingbé Eyadéma Togo 1980 -- 1981 Siaka Stevens Sierra Leone 1981 -- 1982 Mathieu Kérékou Benin 1982 -- 1983 Ahmed Sékou Touré Guinea 1983 -- 1984 Lansana Conté Guinea 1984 -- 1985 Muhammadu Buhari Nigeria 1985 -- 27 August 1985 Ibrahim Babangida Nigeria 27 August 1985 -- 1989 Dawda Jawara Gambia 1989 -- 1990 Blaise Compaoré Burkina Faso 1990 -- 1991 Dawda Jawara Gambia 1991 -- 1992 Abdou Diouf Senegal 1992 -- 1993 Nicéphore Soglo Benin 1993 -- 1994 Jerry Rawlings Ghana 1994 -- 27 July 1996 Sani Abacha Nigeria 27 July 1996 -- 8 June 1998 Abdulsalami Abubakar Nigeria 9 June 1998 -- 1999 Gnassingbé Eyadéma Togo 1999 -- 1999 Alpha Oumar Konaré Mali 1999 -- 21 December 2001 Abdoulaye Wade Senegal 21 December 2001 -- 31 January 2003 John Kufuor Ghana 31 January 2003 -- 19 January 2005 Mamadou Tandja Niger 19 January 2005 -- 19 January 2007 Blaise Compaoré Burkina Faso 19 January 2007 -- 19 December 2008 Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Nigeria 19 December 2008 -- 18 February 2010 Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria 18 February 2010 -- 17 February 2012 Alassane Ouattara Ivory Coast 17 February 2012 -- 17 February 2013 John Mahama Ghana 17 February 2013 -- 19 May 2015 Macky Sall Senegal 19 May 2015 -- 4 June 2016 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Liberia 4 June 2016 -- 4 June 2017 Faure Gnassingbé Togo 4 June 2017 -- present Regional security Cooperation See also : Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group The ECOWAS nations assigned a non-aggression protocol in 1990 along with two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May 1981, that provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community. Community Parliament The Community Parliament consists of 115 members, distributed based on the population of each member state. This body is headed by the Speaker of the Parliament, who is above the Secretary General. Country Parliament Seats Benin 5 Burkina Faso 6 Cape Verde 5 Ivory Coast 7 Gambia 5 Ghana 8 Guinea 6 Guinea - Bissau 5 Liberia 5 Mali 6 Niger 6 Nigeria 35 Senegal 6 Sierra Leone 5 Togo 5 Expanded ECOWAS Commission For the third time since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS is undergoing institutional reforms. The first was when it revised its treaty on 24 July 1993 ; the second was in 2007 when the Secretariat was transformed into a Commission. As of July 2013, ECOWAS now has six new departments ( Human Resources Management ; Education, Science and Culture ; Energy and Mines ; Telecommunications and IT ; Industry and Private Sector Promotion. Finance and Administration to Sierra Leone has been decoupled, to give the incoming Ghana Commissioner the new portfolio of Administration and Conferences ) Community Court of Justice Main article : ECOWAS Court The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice was created by a protocol signed in 1991 and was later included in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty of the Community in 1993. However, the Court did not officially begin operations until the 1991 protocol came into effect on 5 November 1996. The jurisdiction of the court is outlined in Article 9 and Articles 76 of the Revised Treaty and allows rulings on disputes between states over interpretations of the Revised Treaty. It also provides the ECOWAS Council with advisory opinions on legal issues ( Article 10 ). Like its companion courts the European Court of Human Rights and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches. Sporting and cultural exchange ECOWAS nations organize a broad array of cultural and sports event under the auspices of the body, including the CEDEAO Cup in football, the 2012 ECOWAS Games and the Miss CEDEAO beauty pageant. Economic integration West African Economic and Monetary union ( UEMOA ) See also : CFA franc and Economic and monetary union UEMOA WAMZ ECOWAS only ( Cape Verde ) The West African Economic and Monetary Union ( also known as UEMOA from its name in French, Union économique et monétaire ouest - africaine ) is an organization of eight, mainly francophone West African states within the ECOWAS, that was dominated otherwise by anglophone heavyweights like Nigeria and Ghana. It was established to promote economic integration among countries that share the CFA franc as a common currency. UEMOA was created by a Treaty signed at Dakar, Senegal, on 10 January 1994, by the heads of state and governments of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. On 2 May 1997, Guinea - Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, became the organization 's eighth ( and only non-Francophone ) member state. UEMOA is a customs union and currency union between the members of ECOWAS. Its objectives include the following : Greater economic competitiveness, through open markets, in addition to the rationalisation and harmonisation of the legal environment The convergence of macro-economic policies and indicators The creation of a common market The co-ordination of sectoral policies The harmonisation of fiscal policies Among its achievements, the UEMOA has successfully implemented macro-economic convergence criteria and an effective surveillance mechanism. It has adopted a customs union and common external tariff and has combined indirect taxation regulations, in addition to initiating regional structural and sectoral policies. A September 2002 IMF survey cited the UEMOA as `` the furthest along the path toward integration '' of all the regional groupings in Africa. ECOWAS and UEMOA have developed a common plan of action on trade liberalisation and macroeconomic policy convergence. The organizations have also agreed on common rules of origin to enhance trade, and ECOWAS has agreed to adopt UEMOA 's customs declaration forms and compensation mechanisms. Membership ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development headquarters in Lome. Benin ( Founding Member ) Burkina Faso ( Founding Member ) Ivory Coast ( Founding Member ) Guinea - Bissau ( Joined on 2 May 1997 ) Mali ( Founding Member ) Niger ( Founding Member ) Senegal ( Founding Member ) Togo ( Founding Member ) West African Monetary Zone See also : Eco ( currency ) Formed in 2000, the West African Monetary Zone ( WAMZ ) is a group of six countries within ECOWAS that plan to introduce a common currency called the Eco. The six member states of WAMZ are Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone who founded the organization together in 2000 and Liberia who joined on 16 February 2010. Apart from Guinea, which is Francophone, they are all English - speaking countries. Along with Mauritania, Guinea opted out of the CFA franc currency shared by all other former French colonies in West and Central Africa. The WAMZ attempts to establish a strong stable currency to rival the CFA franc, whose exchange rate is tied to that of the Euro and is guaranteed by the French Treasury. The eventual goal is for the CFA franc and Eco to merge, giving all of West and Central Africa a single, stable currency. The launch of the new currency is being developed by the West African Monetary Institute based in Accra, Ghana. Membership Gambia ( Founding Member ) Ghana ( Founding Member ) Guinea ( Founding Member ) Liberia ( Joined on 16 February 2010 ) Nigeria ( Founding Member ) Sierra Leone ( Founding Member ) Transport Main article : ECOWAS rail A Trans - ECOWAS project, established in 2007, plans to upgrade railways in this zone. See also Brown card system -- motor insurance scheme of ECOWAS East African Community Economy of Africa Southern African Development Community ( SADC ) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ) Economic Community of Central African States ( ECCAS ) References Jump up ^ African Union Jump up ^ Data. `` GDP, PPP ( current international $ ) Table ''. World Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2014. Jump up ^ Data. `` GNI per capita, PPP ( current international $ ) Table ''. World Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2014. Jump up ^ Data. `` GDP ( current US $ ) Table ''. World Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2014. Jump up ^ Adeyemi, Segun ( 6 August 2003 ). `` West African Leaders Agree on Deployment to Liberia ''. Jane 's Defence Weekly. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ `` The 5 previous West African military interventions ''. Yahoo News. AFP. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017. ^ Jump up to : Pazzanita, Anthony ( 2008 ). Historical Dictionary of Mauritania. Scarecrow Press. pp. 177 -- 178. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8108 - 6265 - 4. Jump up ^ https://www.diplomatie.ma/Politique%C3%A9trang%C3%A8re/Afrique/tabid/136/vw/1/ItemID/14476/language/en-US/Default.aspx?platform=hootsuite Jump up ^ `` Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe takes the reins of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government ''. 2017 - 06 - 07. Retrieved 2017 - 06 - 15. ^ Jump up to : `` Population 2015 '' ( PDF ). World Bank. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Gross domestic product 2015 '' ( PDF ). World Bank. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Gross domestic product 2015, PPP '' ( PDF ). World Bank. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Demographic Yearbook -- Population by sex, annual rate of population increase, surface area and density '' ( PDF ). United Nations Statistics Division. 2012. pp. 1 -- 2. Retrieved 27 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` Profile : Economic Community of West African States '' ( PDF ). Africa Union. 18 November 2010. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 26 June 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010. Jump up ^ About Us - ECOWAS Parliament, accessed 6 March 2017 Archived 7 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Bensah, Emmanuel K. ( 24 July 2013 ). `` Communicating the ECOWAS Message ( 4 ) : A New Roadmap for the Ouedraogo Commission ( 1 ) ''. Modernghana.com. Retrieved 8 August 2014. ^ Jump up to : ECOWAS ( 2007 ) Information Manual : The Institutions of the Community ECOWAS Archived 30 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Miss ECOWAS 2010 ''. The Economist. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010. Jump up ^ Fau - Nougaret ( ed. ), Matthieu ( 2012 ). `` La concurrence des organisations régionales en Afrique ''. Paris : L'Harmattan. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2008. REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND COOPERATION IN WEST AFRICA A Multidimensional Perspective, Chapter 1. Introduction : Reflections on an Agenda for Regional Integration and Cooperation in West Africa Jump up ^ `` Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) '' fact sheet from the US Department of State 's Bureau of African Affairs Jump up ^ `` Annual Report on Integration in Africa 2002 '' All Africa, 1 March 2002 Jump up ^ `` Common West Africa currency : ECO in 2015 ''. MC Modern Ghana. Jump up ^ `` The Supplementary Wamz Payment System Development Project the Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia ''. Africa Development Bank Group. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011. Jump up ^ `` WAMZ gets US $7.8 million grant ''. Accra Daily Mail. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011. Jump up ^ Proposed Ecowas railway Archived 24 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine... railwaysafrica.com. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Economic Community of West African States. West - African Monetary Institute UEMOA Official Web Site ( In French ) WAEMU Treaty ECOWAS Official Web Site ECOWAS Commission Official Web Site : includes calendar of meetings. ECOWAS Parliament ECOWAS Revised Treaty ECOBANK -- African banking group, present in thirty ( 30 ) countries on the African continent plus France in Europe. ECOBANK 's Initial Public Offer of eight million plus shares in Accra, Ghana in May 2006 was oversubscribed. The listing of this IPO, landed ECOBANK on the Ghana Stock Exchange. As of December 2009, ECOBANK stock is also listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and on the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières ( BRVM ), the stock exchange of Francophone West African countries in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. More About Ecobank PowerPoint presentation of ECOWAS, 2004 Mbendi profile Security by proxy ? The EU and ( sub - ) regional organisations : the case of ECOWAS, by Bastien Nivet, Occasional Paper No. 63, March 2006, European Union Institute for Security Studies More About the newly - expanded ECOWAS Commission More About an ECOWAS Commissioner ECOWAS document in World Bank 's World Integrated Trade Solution * GPTAD database library Economic Community of West African States Leadership Chairmen Eyadéma Obasanjo Senghor Eyadéma Stevens Kérékou Touré Conté Buhari Babangida Jawara Compaoré Jawara Diouf Soglo Rawlings Abacha Abubakar Eyadéma Konaré Wade Kufuor Tandja Compaoré Yar'Adua Jonathan Ouattara Mahama Sall Johnson Sirleaf President of the Commission Executive Secretaries ( 1975 -- 2006 ) Ouattara Munu Bundu Benjamin Kouyaté Chambas Presidents ( 2007 -- present ) Chambas Gbeho Ouédraogo de Souza Member states UEMOA Benin Burkina Faso Guinea - Bissau Ivory Coast Mali Niger Senegal Togo WAMZ Gambia Ghana Guinea Liberia Nigeria Sierra Leone ECOWAS only Cape Verde See also CFA franc Eco ECOWAS rail ECOMOG ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development ECOWAS Parliament ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ECOPOST UEMOA Tournament Regional economic communities in Africa Continental African Union Organization of African Unity ( OAU ) African Economic Community ( AEC ) Inter-regional Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ) Community of Sahel - Saharan States ( CEN / SAD ) Economic Community of Central African States ( ECCAS / EEAC ) Southern Southern African Development Community ( SADC ) Southern African Customs Union ( SACU ) Northern Arab Maghreb Union ( AMU ) Greater Arab Free Trade Area ( GAFTA ) Eastern East African Community ( EAC ) Intergovernmental Authority on Development ( IGAD ) Western Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) West African Monetary Zone ( WAMZ ) West African Economic and Monetary Union ( UEMOA ) Central Economic Community of Central African States ( ECCAS ) Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa ( CEMAC ) Regional organizations Bodies African Union Arab League Asia Cooperation Dialogue APEC OCS ASEAN BBIN BIMSTEC Caribbean Community Central American Integration System Commonwealth of Independent States Commonwealth of Nations Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Council of Europe East African Community ECOWAS Economic Cooperation Organization Eurasian Economic Union EU GUAM Gulf Cooperation Council IORA Latin American Parliament Melanesian Spearhead Group Mercosur NATO Nordic Council OAS PIF Polynesian Leaders Group RCEP SCO SAARC TAKM Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat Turkic Council Union of South American Nations V4 West Nordic Council Topics Regional integration Regional organizations by population Regionalism ( international relations ) VIAF : 149919603 LCCN : n80060817 ISNI : 0000 0001 2183 3325 GND : 2046749 - 7 SELIBR : 113457 SUDOC : 032028474 BNF : cb123136476 ( data ) NLA : 49786563 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economic_Community_of_West_African_States&oldid=836787604 '' Categories : Organizations established in 1975 African Union International economic organizations International organizations of Africa Regional Economic Communities of the African Union Trade blocs Economic Community of West African States Organisations based in Abuja United Nations General Assembly observers Supranational unions Customs unions 1975 establishments in Africa Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Webarchive template wayback links CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Use dmy dates from January 2017 EngvarB from January 2017 Wikipedia articles in need of updating from January 2017 All Wikipedia articles in need of updating Articles containing French - language text Articles containing Portuguese - language text Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikinews Afrikaans Asturianu বাংলা Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara Français 한국어 हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano ქართული Қазақша Kiswahili მარგალური Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Yorùbá 中文 Kabɩyɛ 34 more Edit links This page was last edited on 16 April 2018, at 20 : 59. 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Question: who is the current president of ecowas 2018
Answer: Marcel Alain de Souza