President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated ECOWAS’ new headquarters in Abuja, describing the complex as a symbol of renewal and a call for West Africa to move from a consumption-based market to a manufacturing and industrial powerhouse.
Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at Thursday’s commissioning, Tinubu said the building, dubbed the “Eye of Africa,” should serve as a renewed covenant for regional integration, peace, solidarity and shared prosperity more than five decades after ECOWAS was founded.
“Today marks not only the inauguration of an impressive landmark, but the renewal of a covenant,” Tinubu said in a statement signed by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President. “The hour has come to transform our regional market into a regional production base. A Community that consumes what it does not make will forever live at the mercy of others.”
The President argued that ECOWAS’ next chapter must be defined by industrialization, stronger value chains, expanded intra-regional trade, innovation, and investment. He warned that the bloc cannot ignore pressing threats including terrorism, violent extremism, food insecurity, climate change, and the aspirations of West Africa’s young population.
Tinubu also addressed the recent withdrawal of three member states, saying it showed that integration must now be framed beyond economics. “Regional integration can no longer be an economic imperative alone. It has become a comprehensive framework for our collective security, political stability, sustainable development and the welfare of our peoples,” he said. He urged continued dialogue with the departing states, stressing that ECOWAS’ doors remain open.
The President praised Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, Chair of the ECOWAS Authority, for “steady leadership at a time that demands courage,” and congratulated the ECOWAS Commission for delivering the project. He also thanked China for financing the complex, alongside Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group and other Nigerian and international partners.
President Bio said the new headquarters should renew the bloc’s promise to 450 million West Africans. “History does not remember generations for the buildings they construct, but for the lives they transform,” he said, describing Nigeria as “a great anchor” of the community and commending China’s “generous donation.”
ECOWAS Commission President Dr. Omar Touray said the edifice will serve as a coordination hub as the bloc’s mandate expands. He highlighted China’s broader support, from equipment for the regional standby force to technology adoption, and called it one of ECOWAS’ most strategic partners.
China’s Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Yu Dunhai, said the building reflects Beijing’s long-term commitment to Africa’s integration and pledged deeper, more pragmatic cooperation that lets the region set its own development path.
Tinubu closed with a charge for the institution housed there: “May every decision taken within these walls advance the peace, the unity, the prosperity, and the dignity of the peoples of West Africa.”
Source: daily post.ng