This year, ECOWAS held three summits without examining Morocco’s bid to join the regional economic group. The process is expected to take time.
Pending the presidential election in Nigeria (February 2019), the question about Morocco's accession to ECOWAS has become the hobby horse of some opponents of the second term of Buhari. This is the case of the lawyer Femi Falan.
Once again, the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria has expressed its strong opposition to Morocco’s ECOWAS membership. The next Nigerian presidential elections are to take place in February 2019 and Rabat will have to settle the matter before this deadline.
Last March, the President of the ECOWAS Commission played the role of a doomsayer, saying that Morocco’s bid to join the regional organization would be a step backward in the history of the organization. This Tuesday in Rabat, Marcel De Souza completely changed his opinion to the point that he even announced that the Kingdom’s admission to the Economic Community of West African States will be formalized on December the 16th in Lome, Togo at the next summit.