Inaugural Meeting of Heads of National Boundary Commissions Held in Accra

Over the years, ECOWAS Member States have initiated policies and legal frameworks to address migration management, border delimitation, security, and development of border regions. Many countries have established or strengthened National Boundary Commissions with border governance responsibilities. However, there is a real challenge in terms of strengthening synergies, the articulation of scale between actors and the coordination of cross-border initiatives, a role that ECOWAS can validly play. It is against this background that the Directorate of Free Movement of Persons of the ECOWAS Commission organised the inaugural meeting of Heads of National Boundary Commissions from 9 to 11 July 2024 in Accra, Ghana.

The main objective of the meeting was to agree on the establishment of a coordination mechanism between national and regional actors for a better articulation of the implementation of border governance strategies within the ECOWAS region.

Mrs. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana was the Guest of Honour. In declaring the inaugural meeting of Heads of National Boundary Commissions opened, Mrs. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana stressed: “there is the need to create an enabling environment and to synchronise regional boundary management to ensure best practices, enjoy the benefits of shared boundary and tackle cross-border challenges”. She encouraged leaders of boundary management to ensure continuous support and realisations of an integrated Africa and enjoined delegates to actively participate in the meeting and harness their expertise towards fruitful deliberations and the overall objective of the meeting.

Other speakers included Major General Emmanuel W. Kotia, Commissioner General of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Surveyor Adamu Adaji, Director General of the National Boundary Commission of Nigeria, who was the chair of the meeting, Ambassador Mouktar Osman Karie, AU Representative, Mr. Eric Kondia, the UEMOA Representative and Mr Albert Siaw-Boateng, the Director of Free Movement of Persons and Migration of ECOWAS.

The Director of Free Movement, Mr Albert Siaw-Boateng, speaking on behalf of the ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mrs Massandje Toure-Litse, noted “the institutionalisation of the meeting of the Heads of Boundary Commission is the first of its kind and is aimed at the integration of border governance and management, an instrument on socioeconomic integration, the ambition of ECOWAS since its creation in 1975”.

He said that the concept of border government and management is part of the integration of West Africa, and that the cross-border initiatives programme was created in 2006; and the Accra meeting was to take stock of existing border governance and management programmes and the scope of their interventions.

This inaugural meeting of the Heads of the National Boundary Commissions was to develop an intervention strategy between the ECOWAS Commission and the Member States with the aim of harmonizing border governance and management in West Africa.

At the end of the meeting, specific recommendations were formulated for regional and continental bodies such as ECOWAS, WAEMU, and the AU, as well as at the national level.

At the regional and continental levels, it was recommended to institutionalize the annual meeting of the Heads of National Boundary Commissions as a framework for exchanging, harmonizing, and sharing border governance policies and experiences, considering both internal and external borders.

At the national level, Member States were encouraged to develop and strengthen bilateral and multilateral exchange frameworks between national and local cross-border cooperation structures to enhance the monitoring of local cross-border cooperation initiatives.