Principal Director of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Free Movement of Persons, Mr. Tony Luka Elumelu, in this interview with RALIAT AHMED-YUSUF, AYANDA NGWANE ODEY aND SAMUEL MALIK, speaks on the latest developments and future outlook for the region.
Why is it so difficult to fully implement the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement?
The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement came into being in 1979 with three core principles: right of entry, right of residence and right of establishment. The right of entry involves the right of ECOWAS citizens to enter any member country without the requirements of visa. The right of residence means you have the right to be domiciled in a member state while the right of establishment means you are entitled to own or establish legitimate businesses in any member state.
It has not been fully realised because there are a lot of challenges. But if you look at other regional economic groupings, they will tell you that they are looking at ECOWAS as a model because it is the only regional economic community where you have visa-free entry among member states. That is a laudable achievement. Nonetheless, there are impediments which have to do with sincerity of member states and selective implementation of the protocol.
How do cross-border crimes affect ECOWAS vision vis-a-vis the free movement protocol?
The protocol is quite clear on the admission of citizens. It shows that you have to travel with your passport or the ECOWAS travel certificate, which makes it very easy for people to be identified when travelling across borders. This is why we are moving away from the manual form of identification to biometric, so that people can be tied to their ID cards. This is also why we are introducing the ECOWAS Passport and, as we speak, 11 member states have already adopted it.
Cross-border crimes can be checked if security operatives at the borders use synergy. The situation right now is that security operatives at the borders are very territorial. You find out that the police think they have the sole responsibility to check crime. The same thing applies to immigration and custom personnel. Considering the fact that most of the crimes committed now seem quite alien to us - some governments even admitted it, there is need to improve the capacity of security operatives to enable them measure up and combat the kinds of crimes we now face. One thing we need is collaboration between the different security operatives in member states. The interconnectivity between member states is very crucial in fighting crime. At the ECOWAS level, we have the heads of immigration meeting where they meet, discuss and find solutions to our common problems. Other fora for the police and custom also exist. We should be able to break it down to state level and also have a joint meeting of all these security agencies.
Why is it so difficult to fully implement the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement?
The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement came into being in 1979 with three core principles: right of entry, right of residence and right of establishment. The right of entry involves the right of ECOWAS citizens to enter any member country without the requirements of visa. The right of residence means you have the right to be domiciled in a member state while the right of establishment means you are entitled to own or establish legitimate businesses in any member state.
It has not been fully realised because there are a lot of challenges. But if you look at other regional economic groupings, they will tell you that they are looking at ECOWAS as a model because it is the only regional economic community where you have visa-free entry among member states. That is a laudable achievement. Nonetheless, there are impediments which have to do with sincerity of member states and selective implementation of the protocol.
How do cross-border crimes affect ECOWAS vision vis-a-vis the free movement protocol?
The protocol is quite clear on the admission of citizens. It shows that you have to travel with your passport or the ECOWAS travel certificate, which makes it very easy for people to be identified when travelling across borders. This is why we are moving away from the manual form of identification to biometric, so that people can be tied to their ID cards. This is also why we are introducing the ECOWAS Passport and, as we speak, 11 member states have already adopted it.
Cross-border crimes can be checked if security operatives at the borders use synergy. The situation right now is that security operatives at the borders are very territorial. You find out that the police think they have the sole responsibility to check crime. The same thing applies to immigration and custom personnel. Considering the fact that most of the crimes committed now seem quite alien to us - some governments even admitted it, there is need to improve the capacity of security operatives to enable them measure up and combat the kinds of crimes we now face. One thing we need is collaboration between the different security operatives in member states. The interconnectivity between member states is very crucial in fighting crime. At the ECOWAS level, we have the heads of immigration meeting where they meet, discuss and find solutions to our common problems. Other fora for the police and custom also exist. We should be able to break it down to state level and also have a joint meeting of all these security agencies.
who the hell is tony luka elumelu he shld shut the fuck up liar all bunch of criminals saying stories to loot money
ReplyDeletethese are the same kind of pple looking for positions by all means busy doing nothing giving the press bullshit stories about free movement my ass these pple are old enough to retire so younger pple can come in with better ideals not ideals from old dead brains greedy pple rubbish
ReplyDeletethere should be a shake up in ecowas ppe like tony luka elumelu shld be flushed out of ecowas they are too old there so younger virbrant pple with good enery and ideals can be employed to improve the system
ReplyDelete