ECOWAS protocol on free movement and security challenges in Nigeria and Benin Republic.
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Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International relations,Obafemi Awolowo University
Abstract
The study examined aspects of the ECOWAS protocol that make it susceptible to violation by criminal networks and identified the security challenges arising from the violation of the free movement protocol in Nigeria and Benin Republic. It also explored the extent to which the security challenges generated by the protocol have shaped the national security policies of Nigeria and Benin Republic and investigated how socio-cultural factors have undermined the operation of the free movement protocol in Nigeria and Benin Republic. These were with a view to ascertaining the violation of the Economic Community of West African States protocol for criminal activities and the security threats this posed to Nigeria and Benin Republic.
Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were obtained through the conduct of in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). The in-depth interviews were conducted with 26 purposively selected senior officials of the ECOWAS Commission and the National Defence College in Nigeria, Customs Services, Drug Enforcement and Human Trafficking Prohibition Agencies, the Police, ILO, Embassies of Italy, anti-human trafficking NGOs, academia and the media in both countries. The selection of Nigeria and Benin Republic was predicated on their notoriety as most dangerous transit hubs and the fact that Nigeria (Anglophone) and Benin (Francophone) represent “big” and “small” economies of the sub-region respectively, where the deleterious impact of criminal activities is more evident than in any of the other countries in West Africa. Also, the choice of government agencies and other organisations in the two countries was informed by their firsthand knowledge about the study. In addition, six focus group discussions, comprising of eight participants each, were carried out among community groups, cross-border women traders, vigilante associations and youths in Nigeria and Benin Republic. Finally, secondary data were obtained from government publications, ECOWAS documents and press releases, newspaper clippings and periodicals, articles, relevant texts and the Internet. These data were analysed using content analysis.
The results showed that individuals and organised networks took advantage of the loopholes in the protocol to violate it for various criminal activities. It was also found that the violation of the protocol by criminal gangs intensified illegal trafficking activities and aggravated the security challenges rocking Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. The results further showed that these security challenges had substantially shaped the security policies of Nigeria and Benin Republic as evident in their adoption of new security policies to rein in criminality in all its ramifications. The results also revealed that socio-cultural factors in the forms of common history and ancestry, linguistic similarity, common cultural practices, occupational affinity as well as geographical contiguity between the people of Nigeria and Benin Republic had undermined the operation of the free movement protocol.
The study concluded that the violation of the ECOWAS free movement protocol for criminal activities posed enormous security threats to Nigeria and Benin Republic.
Description
xvii, 270p
Keywords
ECOWAS protocol, Security, Security challenges, Criminal activities
Citation
Adenipekun,L O(2019).ECOWAS protocol on free movement and security challenges in Nigeria and Benin Republic.Obafemi Awolowo University