By Abiola Olawale
The military juntas of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have imposed a 0.5% levy on all imported goods from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member nations including Nigeria.
This decision, announced in a joint statement, was said to be aimed at financing the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States, a three-nation union established after their exit from the ECOWAS in 2023.
The levy, which excludes humanitarian aid, applies to all goods entering the three countries from outside their borders, including imports from neighbouring ECOWAS nations like Nigeria and Ghana.
This development ends free trade across West Africa, whose states have for decades fallen under the umbrella of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and highlights the rift between the three states that border the Sahara Desert and influential democracies like Nigeria and Ghana to the south.
It would be recalled that the juntas of the three countries had announced plans to leave ECOWAS last year, accusing the bloc of failing to assist in their fight against Islamist insurgents and ending insecurity.
ECOWAS had similarly imposed economic, political and financial sanctions on the three in a bid to force them to return to constitutional order. However, the effects were of no consequences in real terms.
Despite ECOWAS’s efforts to reverse the military takeovers in these nations through economic and political pressure, the three countries have doubled down on their alliance.
