Examination of Economic Community of West African States Security Mechanism and Maritime Insecurity in West Africa

Economic Community of West African States (ECO WAS) established in 1975 as a platform for accelerating the pace of economic development of West African states has grappled with several insecurity issues for the past four decades. Originally pre-occupied with market-driven objectives that emphasized trade liberalization, ECOWAS has been confronted with resolving the myriad of security challenges such as piracy, terrorism and oil theft that confront the subregion. It has also focused its resources on regional security cooperation through security mechanisms to curtail insecurity in West African states. The paper examined ECOWAS security mechanism and maritime insecurity in West Africa, regional security cooperation through the Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security adopted in December 1999 and the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Security strategy. The paper utilized secondary data from existing literature from Journals, Workshop reports, ECOWAS reports on security cooperation and regional integration. The data analysis is basically descriptive. The paper found that although the Protocols hold lots of promise based on its emphasis on operational mechanisms such as early warning systems and the institutionalization of good governance, the lack of political commitment by leaders in West Africa coupled with poor implementation among others, could scuttle the benign promise of the Protocol. The paper recommends that to enable an effectual implementation of the Protocol and for that matter, a formidable security profile of West African states. Emphasis should be on good governance and political commitment towards a safe West African maritime domain within the sub region.