BREAKING: Nigeria pays N85bn as ECOWAS levy for 2023, 2024

Nigeria, on December 13, 2024, paid N85bn ($54m) as community levy to the Economic Community of West African States.

This constitutes 100 per cent of its levy from January 2023 to July 2024.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, announced this during his opening remarks at the 66th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS.

The meeting is held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

Touray said, “The good news, and indeed, a very good news is that for the first time in 19 years, Nigeria has decided to pay 100 per cent of its community levy from 2023.

“I am therefore pleased to announce that on Friday 13, December 2024 Nigeria paid N85bn and $54m representing 100 per cent of the 2023 levy and the levy of 2024 up to July 2024.”

He highlighted this payment as a testament to the leadership and commitment of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian government, and its people to the ECOWAS community.

However, Touray lamented the continued slow remittances of the community levy, with several member states still falling behind on their payments.

He emphasised the need for this trend to be reversed to ensure the financial stability of the community.

“Excellencies, I cannot conclude my statement without touching on the finances of the community.

“Here, I have both bad news and good news. The bad news is that the community levy remittances continue to be slow.

“A number of countries have fallen behind with their community levy remittances. This needs to be reversed,” he stated.

Tinubu is hosting Sunday’s meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, a role he assumed in June 2023.

He was re-elected for a second one-year term in June 2024.

12 presidents are seated for the conclave holding amidst rising tensions, especially following the decision of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS in January 2024.

Parties will review the organisation’s sanctions on these nations.

They will discuss regional security to tackle the surge of terrorism in the Sahel and political instability in member states.

They will also review progress and timelines in countries under military rule, with an emphasis on shorter transitions to civilian governance.

On economic integration, the Authority will discuss ways to accelerate the adoption of the ECO, ECOWAS’s proposed single currency.

As of December 2024, the remaining member states are Benin Republic, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.