Ijebu-Ode - Nigeria — A delegation of the ECOWAS Commission has paid a courtesy call on Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, Nigeria's former Minister of Economic Development and the longest serving head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), who played a pivotal role in the formation of ECOWAS through the Treaty of Lagos on 28th May 1975.

At the head of the delegation on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, to Prof Adedeji's Ijebu-Ode home town in south-western Nigeria on 4th June 2013, was Vice President Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, who was also accompanied by Prof. Sam K.B. Asante, Ghana's renowned political economist.

In what turned out to be a nostalgic reunion between the Adedejis and two men who worked very closely with him at various times, Prof Adedeji went down memory lane on his motivation and conviction in the power of cooperation and integration as the key to development of post-independent Africa.

The former Nigerian Minister who has been variously described as “a development pioneer,” “an African Cassandra,” “a master strategist,” and even a “rebel technocrat,” said he saw and still see cooperation and integration as the only option for Africa to overcome linguistic, political and economic barriers which the continent inherited from its colonial history.

He recalled the “shuttle diplomacy” to various capitals in the sub-region in his days as Minister (1971-75) soon after Nigeria's civil war, and the critical roles played by Nigeria's former leader General Yakubu Gowon and his Togolese counterpart Gnassingbé Eyadéma in the formation of ECOWAS.

Prof Adedeji, who was mentioned in a 2006 publication as one of the world's 50 influential thinkers on development, was to take his integration campaign to the UNECA in Addis Ababa serving as Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary for 16 years (1975-91).

His dynamism under the UNECA platform resulted in the creation of two more Regional Economic Communities (RECs) - the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in 1981 and 1983, respectively.

Prof Adedeji will also be remembered for his other unique initiatives such as the Lagos Plan of Action (1980), and the Final Act of Lagos (1980).

When the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was foisted on hapless so- called developing and least developed nations - many of which are in Africa - by the World Bank and the IMF, Prof Adedeji and his fellow Pan-Africanist thinkers did not only raise an alarm but developed the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programme (AAF-SAP, 1989) followed by the African Charter for Popular Participation (ACPP, 1990), as legendary blue prints for the continent's home-grown development and governance paradigms.

Although all the ideals of ECOWAS founding fathers might not have been met, Prof Adedeji is happy that citizens of the 15 Member States see themselves today as belonging to one community.

“This is the only region in Africa where citizens can visit and stay in a country other than their own for at least 90 days without a visa,” he affirmed, in a reference to ECOWAS' flagship Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Rights to Residence and Establishment.

Moving forward, Prof Adedeji called on ECOWAS Member States to work toward the harmonization of policies, laws and regulations to consolidate regional integration.

Dr. McIntosh, Liberia's former Foreign Minister with a long history of involvement in Africa's development initiatives, said the courtesy visit was a tribute to Prof Adedeji's total commitment and contributions to regional and continental integration, as he turns 83 in December and as ECOWAS looks forward to its 40th Anniversary in 2015.

The Commission Vice President's delegation to Ijebu-Ode included Mr. Paul Ejime of the Communication Directorate and Mr. Wilfred Ewaleifoh, head of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) crew, gathering materials for the production a Special Documentary, part of initiatives lined up to signpost the evolution of ECOWAS, its mandate, achievements and challenges over the past four decades.