In a flurry of tweets, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, clearly brandished the risk of the dislocation of ECOWAS in the event of the premature adoption of the ECO currency, replacing the FCFA by the WAEMU zone.

In a series of tweets published on Tuesday, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari (photo), clearly castigated the will of the member countries of the UEMOA zone which use the CFA Franc to switch to the ECO before the other members of the ECOWAS . “It gives me a feeling of unease that the UEMOA zone wants to take over the Eco as a replacement for its CFA Franc before the other ECOWAS member states,” 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.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) June 23, 2020

A sign of a certain misunderstanding that is taking hold within this sub-regional group, the Nigerian president pointed to the lack of "trust" that prevails in the discussions leading to a common adoption of the new currency. of ECOWAS. “It is worrying that a people with whom we wish to associate take important steps without trusting us for the discussion,” Muhammadu Buhari said.

These harsh words from the Nigerian President follow a request made in February by his country for an "extension of the deadline for the launch of the single currency" as planned by Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Emmanuel Macron in December 2019 in Abidjan. “Nigeria's position on the ECO is that the convergence criteria have not been met by the majority of countries,” Abuja argued at the time.

The wish apparently did not meet with the consent of the leaders of the UEMOA zone who, under the leadership of the Ivorian president, seem not to want to backtrack on their desire to adopt the ECO to replace the CFA Franc, in principle during the second half of this year 2020. An initiative which had also raised criticism from English-speaking countries in the area as not being "not in accordance with the decisions of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS for the adoption of the Eco as the name of an independent single currency of ECOWAS”.

A question of independence on which Muhammadu Buhari clearly seems unwilling to yield an inch of ground. “Nigeria fully supports and is committed to a monetary union with the right fundamentals – one that guarantees credibility, sustainability, prosperity and full regional sovereignty. But we have to do it right and ensure absolute adherence to established standards,” he tweeted.

Raising the specter of a dislocation of ECOWAS because of these disagreements over the transition to the ECO, Muhammadu Buhari warns that "we cannot make a fool of ourselves by entering into a union only to potentially disintegrate at the earliest when we enter it. . We need to be clear and unequivocal about our position regarding this process.” Adding that “we must proceed with caution and respect the agreed process to achieve our collective goal while treating each other with the utmost respect. Without this, our ambitions for a strategic monetary union as an ECOWAS bloc could very well be seriously threatened”.

Insisting on the strategic nature of the new common currency of this sub-region, the president of Africa's leading economy (which alone accounts for 70% of ECOWAS' GDP) openly declares that he "bet so much on this project to let things to mere convenience and convenience”.

Recall that according to a study by the institution, only Togo would meet the main requirements and criteria for the establishment of a single sub-regional currency, among the ECOWAS countries.