Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso Military Regimes Will Find It Difficult To Print New Multi-million Dollar Passports For Citizens Over ECOWAS Exit —Nigerian Foreign Minister
SaharaReporters reported in January how Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced their immediate withdrawal from the regional bloc.
Mr Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister has said it will cost military regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger millions of dollars to print passports for their citizens if they decide to permanently leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The minister said this while speaking to Al Jazeera, adding that the integration of the people in the West African region will make it extremely difficult for any ECOWAS members to leave the union.
SaharaReporters reported in January how Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced their immediate withdrawal from the regional bloc.
Speaking on the situation, Tuggar said, “There’s a process [for leaving] and it takes about a year. It’s one thing to pronounce that you’ve left, it’s another to really disengage from ECOWAS itself because every citizen of ECOWAS carries a passport. (An ECOWAS passport guarantees visa-free travel within the bloc). We’re waiting to see if they’re even going to print the passports which are going to cost millions of dollars.
“We’re talking about 30 percent of, let’s say, Cote d’Ivoire, coming from Burkina Faso, and Mali, which means they would need new residencies or they will have to leave Cote d’Ivoire and the same thing with Nigeriens in Nigeria, in several other places.
“So it’s not as simple as it’s made out to be. The process of them leaving takes a lot more than just a simple pronouncement and there are certain procedures that have to be followed.
“ECOWAS has shown clearly that there’s no bellicosity towards those countries because sanctions were removed out of humanitarian considerations.
“Fasting during Ramadan is coming up, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the Chairman of ECOWAS, heads of state and government pushed for the removal of sanctions. The ECOWAS leaders endorsed it and the sanctions have been removed, borders have been opened.
“There’s no compulsion in the membership of ECOWAS, it’s up to the regimes in those countries to make a decision. ECOWAS is a union of a community of people and the emphasis is on the community, on the people, on the citizens.”
