Nigeria, Ghana, others yet to meet conditions for Eco currency
From Oghogho Obayuwana and Mathias Okwe, Abuja

WITH the exception of The Gambia, all the countries opting for the adoption of the Eco as their common currency in the West African sub-region are yet to meet the conditions for the implementation of the policy.



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This was made public yesterday at the beginning of a week-long meeting of the Technical Committee of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) in Abuja.

The defaulting countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The meeting is assessing the implementation of the convergent criteria set by WAMZ for the five member-states that want to adopt the Eco currency. The countries are Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia; Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Stephen Oresanya, who represented the Finance Minister, Dr. Mansur Muhktar, confirmed fears that the December 2009 date for the take-off of the policy might not be realistic.

Oresanya said apart from The Gambia, which has consistently met all the convergent criteria, the remaining four states were defaulting.

The primary criteria are inflation at single digit; fiscal deficit/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of less than four per cent; central bank's financing of fiscal deficit of less than 10 per cent or not more and gross external reserves to cover at least three months.

At the just-concluded 50th anniversary of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Abuja, the Director-General of the Ghana-based West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), Dr. Temitope Oshikoya, urged WAMZ not to rush the implementation of the policy because a "successful monetary union project was a marathon-race and not a sprint."

He said even the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which started formulating a similar monetary union in the Gulf region at about the same time with WAMZ, was contemplating the postponement of its monetary union launch scheduled for 2010 even with the region's sound economic fundamentals.

WAMZ was formally launched by the heads of state and government of the five nations in December 2000, with the objective of establishing a common central bank and introducing a single currency by 2003, which was later postponed to 2005 and then 2009.

Oresanya yesterday assumed the chairmanship of the WAMZ Committee to fine-tune details and ensure the harmonisation of currencies among the five states.

He said Nigeria was still committed to the monetary union, adding that the Federal Government had taken steps to implement the programme.

Meanwhile, the ECOWAS experts group on illicit drug trafficking, abuse and organised crimes has concluded plans to establish Monitoring and Evaluation Missions (MEM) in the zone.

The three-year programme, which will involve sending Monitoring Missions Teams (MMTs) to member-states, excluding Nigeria, will cost the bloc $650,000 while the inclusion of the nation and the ECOWAS Commission will raise the cost to $750,000.

At the end of their meeting in Abuja called to validate the implementation strategy of the regional action plan against the menace, the experts recommended that MEM must be conducted in all ECOWAS states.

The missions, they said, is to also get a clear time-frame "in order to have comparable results among member-states so that the teams can have an appropriate composition to ensure efficiency in monitoring and evaluation activities."

The Abuja meeting was convened to implement the recommendations of the two-day Ministerial Conference on Drug Trafficking as a Security Threat to West Africa in Praia, Cape Verde from October 28,. 2008.

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Gender, Dr. Adrienne Diop, had maintained that for the fight against drug trafficking, abuse and organised crimes to have headway in the sub-region, there was need to build institutional capacity, improve communications and advocacy strategies, provide adequate treatment and rehabilitation for drug abuse victims and reinforce the engagement of ECOWAS states.

I fear for this initiative with my little knowledge of economics and politics especially with regards the effectiveness of institutions and organisations in Africa.