By Francis Ogwo
The Economic Committee of West African States (ECOWAS) has mandated member countries to reopen their borders for the free movement of people in the region.
This was a fallout of a meeting of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the ECOWAS Heads of State on Wednesday.
The President of the UEMOA Commission, His Excellency Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, made the following proposal for the opening of borders:
July 1: Opening of ECOWAS land borders
July 15: Opening of air borders in the ECOWAS region
July 15: Opening of maritime borders
July 22: Opening of air borders with all African countries
August 1: Opening of air borders with other continents – International.
The meeting, according to report is to be hinged on the proposed guidelines for the mitigation of health risks and the harmonization and facilitation of cross-border trade and transport in the ECOWAS region in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, amounting to a coordinated and progressive opening of air, land and maritime borders.
Recall that Nigeria’s borders have been closed for more than a year to check smuggling of commodities around the neighborhood of Nigeria with the closure due to the COVID-19 spread grounding all activities at the borders as other countries went under lock and key as a measure of containment.
