Economic Community of West African States - Members of the sub-regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been urged to focus on improving the living condition of their (almost 300 million) population by providing the enabling environment for rapid economic growths.

This was part of the suggestions put forward by participants on the second day of the ECOWAS Investment Forum, with the theme: ”Showcasing Investment and Financial Opportunities in ECOWAS”.

According to the participants, one of the ways to enhance investment in ECOWAS is to first begin by supporting local investors, make factors of production less expensive and reduce the risk perception of doing business.

“Beyond achieving peace keeping, when it comes to real economic development, which is the core mandate of ECOWAS. I think we have not achieved much success in that area and I think this forum needs to examine why this is so,” Joseph Makoju, Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group in Nigeria, said.

Makoju identified internal conflicts, policy inconsistencies, lack of access to loans, double taxations, poor infrastructure and over-dependence on foreign investors, as some barriers to economic growth in the sub-region.

However, it is not as if the various governments have not been doing anything to address the situation, as in the last few years, ECOWAS has initiated a number of interventions at national levels.

Reforms have been introduced, liberalization, privatization policies have been embarked upon, institutions have been set up to address the issue of corruption, democracy is taking roots and transparency is been promoted.

'The best investments are the one you can be able to generate internally. I believe charity must begin at home; it is when we invest at home that foreign investors can be attracted here. However, there is one big success story of a local investor who has taken the lead in Nigeria and Africa. The Dangote Group is the best example of this initiative and the success has attracted international financial support,” Makoju declared.

From a major importer of cement, the Dangote Group has revolutionized production of the commodity in Nigeria and other African countries and in the last two years, it has invested over US$ 2 billion into cement production.

It has three cement factories in Nigeria, with capacity to produced 20 million tones; has state of the art factories in Ghana, Liberia and that of Senegal will soon come up and this is apart from investing in Zambia, Ethiopia and Gabon.

'What we need to do to encourage more Dangotes in our respective countries is to ensure that the positive reforms should continue to be geared towards business growths. There is the need to address the multiple of taxations and reduce high risk of doing business in the West African region,” the Dangote Group CEO explained.

Another success story celebrated at the forum came from Sierra-Leone, when the Executive Chairman of African Minerals in Freetown, Gibril Bangura, held the participants spell bound as he narrated how the company started from zero and is now a multi-billion dollar outfit.

'We are successful today because of government and foreign financial supports. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a Chinese firm, which invested US$ 1.2 million in the mining company. The effects of that have been tremendous; African Minerals now employed 10,000 people directly. Improved transparency, accountability and good governance has also assisted us tremendously,” Bangura told his audience.

According to him, with more investment in the education sector, particularly vocational and technical, the sub-region will be on the path of industrialization, while the informal sector, which constitutes about 90 per cent of businesses need to be fully incorporated in government policies, by giving them the opportunity to access needed soft loans.

'We have noted the various challenges, opportunities and the huge potentials that we have in West Africa. There is no doubt that we have bright ideas about how to strengthen trade and investments. But the implementation often poses major obstacles.

“I think the greatest reform which will help transform the region for better is that we must reform our mentality and adopt new ways of doing things,' another participant from Senegal, Phillips Mende suggested.

To also make the vision of a common market realizable, ECOWAS Commission officials said a number of new initiatives are on the pipeline.

The new initiatives included a regional payment system that will enable an investor who wants to change from one currency to another without losing its value.

ECOWAS is also working with the private sector for the establishment of a regional stock exchange, which will make it possible for an investor in any of the 15-member countries to buy shares in any of the companies across the capital markets.

It will eliminate the existing practice, whereby, for example an investor in Ghana can only buy shares in the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) or a Nigerian in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The credit data base is another new tool being proposed by the sub-regional organization to enhance investments and economic retaliations among member nations.

The data base will enable investors to operate credit across West Africa, through a credit bureau that will be created to facilitate it.

Pana 17/09/2011