Social Conflicts Threatening ECOWAS’ Integration Objectives, Says Buhari

•As Catholic Bishops seek regional peace

Onyebuchi Ezigbo 

President Muhammadu Buhari has said the persisting social conflicts in most countries of West Africa are negatively affecting the sub-region’s capacity to achieve integration which he said was the major goal of forming the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The president who was represented by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo at the fourth Plenary Assembly of Reunion of Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) holding at the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja, said the spate of conflicts and violence around the countries’ borders put considerable pressure on the ability of the affected countries to drive their political and economic activities.

He said: “All our efforts to integrate our Community have been thwarted not just by external forces, and I am concerned about the sovereignty of our countries and they have also resulted in a situation where social conflicts in our nation and around our borders have critically affected our capacity to truly integrate things the way that we wish.  

“Internal crisis and social conflicts around borders have created a situation where today in our region we will say is passing a season of considerable political, economic and social turmoil. 

“Terrorism and violent conflicts, banditry affect many of our nations, especially the Sahel region.”

The Vice President said in the aftermath of the outbreak of COVID-19, many of the economies of the West African countries have been weakened while unemployment escalated with the attendant poverty.

He also stated that, “peace cannot reign in our region if it does not first reign in countries and communities.

“Since 2017, there have been 12 military coups in Africa. And half of them have occurred since 2020. Historical, in times like this, parochial prejudices are heightened and the fabric of cohesion in the society becomes frayed as people retreat into ethnic, religious and other nativist camps. 

“And those who do not speak our language or subscribe to our faith come under great suspicion and soon they become scapegoats for all our challenges and ethnic, religious and separatist conflicts arise. In all of these, the ideal of an integrated, peaceful and prosperous sub-region remains almost impossible,” he said. 

Osinbajo said the concept behind the theme of the conference, “Fratelli Tutti: Path to Build Brotherhood and Sustainable Peace in West Africa,” for which Pope Francis had written about, is a concept of the brotherhood of all humanity.

He said the federal government was committed to collaborating with the Church and all well-meaning actors in promoting peace and security. 

Speaking on the role of the church in maintaining peaceful coexistence, the president said the Bishops conference could supply a moral and spiritual consensus that undergirds the project of integration. 

“Indeed, the Catholic Church and the Bishops conference have established a reputation for speaking truth to power in consonance with the highest prophetic traditions and by continuing its illustrious practice of inspiring social action by the lay faithful. 

“Over the years, the Church has modeled profound approaches in challenging the impunity of some state actors and errant power,” he said

President of RECOWA and Archbishop of Abuja Metropolitan Archdiocese, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, said leaders of the region must use political power to create good governance rather than for personal advancement or allow religious, ethnic, economic or political interests to subordinate the common good. 

“Leaders   must enthrone merit, share resources equitably,  and do away with the virus of corruption and self-centeredness,” he added. 

In his welcome address, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji said the theme of the meeting was apt given the level of insecurity and violence across the continent.

He said socio-political and socio-cultural problems threaten peace and impede development in our different countries, hence the need for all to come together in solidarity as a human family to address them.

According to him, there was need to come together to find solutions for these problems.

He said Catholic Bishops should exhibit more catholic attitude which preaches against discrimination and exclusion.

In his message, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of People’s, Luis Cardinal Antonio Tagle, said that said the theme of Conference was timely and urgent considering the turbulence in the whole world.

While echoing the concern by Apostolic Nuncio, Tagle said tribalism threatens universal friendship and by extension global unity.

 Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Damian Dodo, described the meeting as the largest gathering of Catholic Bishops in West Africa.

He said his prayer was that the Bishops meeting would bring peace and healing in the land.

He said the meeting was coming at the time when Nigeria was facing a lot of challenges like other countries, adding that the theme of the conference was apt as it seeks to address the core of the challenges facing the region which is the insecurity and hunger.