WALKING THE TIGHT ROPE OF DIPLOMACY: ECOWAS APPROACH TO INSTITUTIONAL FORMATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT, 1975 – 1977

Abstract

Few weeks after the signing ceremony of the Treaty forming the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Lagos, Nigeria on 28 May 1975, the ECOWAS formation treaty was ratified by threshold of member states in June 1975. The charter envisages the immediate formation of the Executive Secretariat to guide the implementation of regional policies and programs and facilitate the achievement of the community integration objectives. However, the ECOWAS institutional formation process was held hostage and delayed for almost two years by some highly political debacles. Using qualitative historical method, this article explores the historical evolution of ECOWAS to highlight the impact of diplomacy on the formation of the Executive secretariat. The finding from the analysis in the study indicates that, the mechanism of diplomatic compromise used to resolve the political disagreements affected the formation process and the structure and function of the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat.