W/Africans want indigenous language for ECOWAS, says Pan-Africanist

By Mark Longyen

Citizens of West African countries have called on ECOWAS to introduce an indigenous language of one of its member states as its official language, in addition to English, French and Portuguese.

Bishir Dauda, a Pan-Africanist, who is traveling across West Africa to celebrate ECOWAS’ 50th anniversary, disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from Accra, Ghana.

Dauda said that the community citizens made the call during his interaction with them at various fora in the course of his advocacy and solidarity journey.

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NAN reports that ECOWAS, founded on May 28, 1975, to foster subregional economic integration and political unity, is celebrating its 50th anniversary on May 28.

The activist had in an interview with NAN before embarking on the marathon trip on April 1, said the 50-day journey was his own unique way of celebrating ECOWAS’ 50th anniversary.

“In the course of this trip, I have been interacting with many people in different West African countries, seeking their views about ECOWAS.

“One of the key takeaways from my interactive sessions is the community citizens’ clarion call on ECOWAS to make an indigenous West African language one of its official languages.

“Many people I spoke to specifically recommended the Hausa Language, which is being spoken widely in West and Central Africa,” he said.

Dauda said that the citizens were aware of the fact that ECOWAS had already been transformed from a mere international organisation to ‘ECOWAS of Peoples,’ which should go beyond rhetorics.

He said that the people wanted all ECOWAS policies and programmes to be more directly derived from the people, while ECOWAS should be seen to be interacting with the grassroots directly.

“This will help in countering the prevailing notion that ECOWAS is just an intergovernmental organisation representing the interests of the elites in government,” he said.(NAN)