WAEC Government 2012 Theory — Question 13

Model answer

Problems facing ECOWAS: i. Financial problems: ECOWAS as an international organisation is faced with the problem of finance as many of the member states are not committed to fulfilling their financial obligations. The lack of funding by some member states hinders the organisation from implementing some of its aims and objectives. ii. Rivalry among member states: The member-states of ECOWAS are divided into Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone countries. This division leads to rivalry among member states and prevented them from working together on key issues crucial to the aims and objectives of ECOWAS. iii. The Influence of France: Many of the Francophone countries of ECOWAS still have political as well as economic ties to France, which continues to control its former colonies. This posed a problem to ECOWAS efforts at integrating the economy of all the countries in West Africa, which is a key objective of the organisation. iv. The fear domination: Nigeria remains the largest country in the sub-region in terms of population and economy. This makes smaller states in ECOWAS view Nigeria with suspicion and refuse to collaborate with the country on issue pertaining to economic integration. v. Poor transportation and communication network in the region: The West Africa sub-region which houses all the member state of ECOWAS suffers from poor transport and communication system; this slows down the rate of economic and social integration. vi. The influence of former colonial masters: Most of ECOWAS member states continue to trade with their former colonial masters instead of trading among themselves.