THE FARMEWORK OF ECONOMIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER THE ECOWAS TREATY: A CASE STUDY OF IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                                         INTRODUCTION

1.1        HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In many parts of the world today some form of economic integration is either in existence or actively in prospect. This wide spread enthusiasm for the formation of customs unions, free trade areas, common markets or economic unions among groups of countries derives from a complex of motives and sentiments. In Western Europe after the Second World War, the search for a permanent peace and world orders caused a spurt of integration initiatives some of which have been a success up to the present. For the Eastern bloc, socialist integration within the frame work of the council for mutual Economic Assistance sets itself the aim of achieving rapid economic, scientific and technical progress in all the member-countries and of raising the material and cultural standards of their peoples through deep structural changes in economy in accordance with the objectives requirements of scientific and technical progress¹.

The urge for close economic ties is further reinforced by the growing realisation, that the small size of some less developed countries is a serious obstacle to rapid economic development.

The birth of ECOWAS on 28^th May 1975 in Lagos marked the beginning of a new era in the history of economic co-operation in West Africa. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Resolution 1429(viii) and 145(vii) passed at its seventh session held in Nairobi in February 1965, recommended that member- states of the commission should establish as soon as possible sub-regional Inter-governmental Machinery for harmonising their economic and social development. Because of the practical difficulties involved in forming economic groupings among independent states, especially less

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developed ones, it took West Africa countries about ten years from the time of the ECA resolution to form ECOWAS².

The founding fathers of ECOWAS in 1975 went far beyond the concept of economic co-operation. They saw their enterprise in terms of an economic community and economic integration. They set about establishing a more structured form of co-operation that seeks the fusion of the national economies of the 16 sovereign partner states in order to accelerate, foster and encourage the economic and social development of their states and thus improve the living standards of their peoples.

Shortly after the ratification by member states of the 1975 treaty, omissions and weaknesses were noticed in the tenor of the Lagos treaty. The Lagos treaty it was discovered made no express provision for political co-operation regional peace and security. Perhaps the assumption here was that matters of regional peace and security, no less than political cooperation, were to be taken care of by the organisation of Africa Unity now Africa Union, so there was no need to provide for these expressly in the treaty. Its was to be realised shortly by states parties to the treaty that the economics of integration and the politics of integration were inseparable twins. Accordingly, the community adopted a protocol on Non-Aggression in 1978 and another protocol of mutual assistance in Defence matters in 1981. These two protocols reflect the realisation by the Heads of State that a politically peaceful, secure and stable environment was critical to the promotion of economic cooperation and integration among the member states³.

THE FARMEWORK OF ECONOMIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER THE ECOWAS TREATY: A CASE STUDY OF IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA.