(a) Draw an outline map of West Africa and on it show and name: (i) any three member countries of the ECOWAS (ii) the capitals of the countries shown (b) Ou...

(a) Outline map of West Africa showing three ECOWAS member countries and their capitals

The three member countries of ECOWAS shown on the map above, together with their capital cities, are:

(Any three of the fifteen ECOWAS states are acceptable, e.g. Cote d'Ivoire - Yamoussoukro; Mali - Bamako; Sierra Leone - Freetown; Togo - Lome; Benin - Porto Novo.)

(b) Three objectives of ECOWAS

1. Promotion of trade and economic cooperation - to increase and strengthen trade among member states and to promote cooperation and development in economic activity throughout the sub-region.
2. Free movement of persons, goods, services and capital - to remove barriers so that citizens, goods and services can move freely across the borders of member countries.
3. Economic integration and a higher standard of living - to work towards a common market and eventually a single currency, and to raise the standard of living of the peoples of the sub-region while maintaining peace and stability.

(c) Three factors that have limited the full attainment of these objectives

1. Language barrier and differences in colonial background - the members are split among English, French and Portuguese speaking states, which hinders communication, negotiation and full integration.
2. Strong colonial ties - many members remain closely linked economically and politically to their former colonial masters in Europe, so they trade more with those countries than with their West African neighbours, weakening intra-regional cooperation.
3. Similarity of economic activities and products - most member states produce and export the same primary agricultural and mineral products, so there is little to exchange among them and much competition rather than complementary trade.