Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso’s ECOWAS exit seen hurting Nigeria’s exports

The exit of military-led Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) is seen to hurt the exports of Nigerian goods.

The unilateral withdrawal of the countries who were also founding members ECOWAS in 1975 whittled down the regional’s bloc membership from 15 to 12 member countries.

According to Article 3 of the revised ECOWAS Treaty, one of its main objectives is to promote the region’s economic integration by establishing, a Free Trade Area (FTA).

The instrument created for this purpose is the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), which aims to operationalise FTA.

The ETLS mechanism ensures the free movement of originating products without payment of customs duties and taxes of equivalent effect on importation into ECOWAS Member States.

However, a manufacturer told BusinessDay that the withdrawal of these countries from the regional bloc will affect Nigeria’s manufactured goods as they might no longer access the FTA.

“Their eventual exit will lead to low export sales in the regional markets and, by extension, result in a reduction in foreign exchange revenue generation into Nigeria from the subregion,” said Odiri Erewa-Meggison, chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion Group (MANEG).

Meggison said that exporters from Nigeria could navigate their ways and compete in these three economies due to the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).

ECOWAS is yet to state whether it will impose restrictions on people and goods from the three departing states that have formed a new grouping, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) from its French acronym.

The MAN export chairman said undoubtedly, that the planned exit will affect Nigerian manufacturers and exporters negatively.

She explained that access to the market will be restricted due to possible technical barriers to trade imposed by the Nigerian, Malian, or Burkina governments as the ECOWAS protocol on ETLS will no longer be binding on them.

“It might become tougher for manufacturers because of the already existing high cost of production confronting the manufacturers domestically in Nigeria,” Meggison said, noting that Nigerian exporters would no longer be competitive in those markets due to imposition of import duty payment on their products.

“Another implication is that most manufacturing exporters doing a higher volume of export to any of the affected economies could resolve a reduction in their manufacturing operations and retrench their workforce, and tax revenue accruable to the government from such companies would be reduced.”

She stated that the exit could also lead to the insurgence of informal trade and smuggling along the borders between these countries.

“This would further lead to data loss on the volume and value of trade between Nigeria and these countries,” Meggison said.

However, these countries were given a grace period from January 29 to July 29, 2025, to meditate on their decision about leaving the regional bloc.

Obiora Madu, an export consultant and the director-general of the African Centre for Supply, said Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso will generally affect ECOWAS when they close in.

“For manufacturers and exporters, their exit will mean that the free flow will not be there. But we have to wait to see the kind of policies they roll out and the rules that they are going to put in place.

“If they cease to be part of the ECOWAS, then it means that ETLS will stop applying to them. It also means that the free movement of people and goods will cease. So, definitely for exporters and manufacturers, there will be some negative effects for them.”

Madu noted that it would be preemptive to conclude about the outcome of their exit until people see what policies they are going to roll out.

“Manufacturers will continue to export goods to those countries after all, we are exporting to other African countries that are not ECOWAS and of course, I don’t see these three countries refusing to be part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so it’s actually to watch out and see the whole thing play out,” he noted.