Africa Press-Nigeria:
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concern over the decision by regional francophone countries to replace CFA Franc with regional common currency, Eco, ahead of other member states.
Buhari cautioned his counterparts in Ecowas bloc of possible dangers brought by Eco if not well-thought-out.
“It gives me an uneasy feeling that the UEMOA Zone now wishes to take up the Eco in replacement for its CFA Franc ahead of the rest of the Member States,” Buhari said during a virtual summit on Tuesday referring to the eight member states of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (French acronym, UEMOA).
“This is in addition to deviating from the Community Act on a consistent attainment of convergence in the three years running up to the introduction of the currency, and our subsequent reinforcing directives,” said Buhari.
‘‘We cannot ridicule ourselves by entering a union to disintegrate, potentially no sooner than we enter into it…we must proceed with caution and comply with the agreed process of reaching our collective goal while treating each other with utmost respect. Without these, our ambitions for a strategic Monetary Union as an ECOWAS bloc could very well be in serious jeopardy,’’ said the Nigerian president.
Buhari, however, affirmed Abuja’s commitment to Eco urging other Ecowas member states to take a common position to safeguard the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) from the “pitfalls of a questionable union’’.
