New ECOWAS Headquarters: China Continues Sharing Unique Diplomacy With Africa – OpEd

China's Belt and Road Initiative has expanded significantly over the last several years in Africa, and has cut across different sectors. Beijing has a strategy to project influence through gifting prestigious presidential palaces and parliamentary buildings that have been labelled 'unique' in its history with Africa. 

Reports show that since 2000, Beijing has bankrolled the construction or renovation of nearly 200 government complexes. Several of such projects were funded through various streams including loans and donations. Classical examples include the African Union (AU) building estimated at $200 million in 2012, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In December 2022, China signed an agreement with the regional economic bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to build its office headquarters. The project costs approximately $32 million, and the new centralised building will enhance productivity among staff and reduce operational costs as the ECOWAS Commission currently operates from three locations in Abuja.

Throughout its diplomacy with Africa, China always keep its words, delivering promptly on its bilateral promises and agreements with African partners. As expected, China will handover the new ECOWAS building, its new secretariat with modern facilities, completely as a gift which is arguably described as an additional to its weighty infrastructure footprints and grandiose achievements to the continent.

While a number of Africa's external partner show high symbolism and offer diplomacy with rhetoric, China has indeed taken up the challenges and unique opportunities to strengthen its position, especially its trade, investment and noticeably flex economic muscles. In practical terms, China has displayed exceptionalism in its collaborative relations with Africa. In sharing Africa's future, it is consistently addressing all kinds of its sustainable development issues, appreciably winning friends and supporting the continent's growing population.

The new building centralised complex, for the 15-member bloc estimated at $32 million in Abuja, is set for handover by the end of January 2026, and this aims to boost staff productivity and cut operational costs. On December 4, Chinese ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, visited the site to review progress and met with the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray. Yu hailed the building as a "landmark project of bilateral cooperation" and a strong example of South-South cooperation.

In an interview with South China Morning Post, David Shinn, a China-Africa expert and professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, said China's gifting of the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja or the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa was a clear case of "buying influence with African governments."

He said the only difference between these gifts and providing a football stadium or parliament building was the fact that China had built influence with many governments and not just one capital. "While China is not the only country to engage in influence buying by gifting highly visible projects, Beijing does more of it than any other donor government," Shinn said.

He said these projects were also inherently different from those based on loans or even grants that focused on capacity building in health and education or improving food security. "Once the structures have become functional, it is up to individual African governments to put their national interests first, which may be hard to do if Beijing presses them to pursue a pro-China position," emphasized Shinn.

In an official statement, African leaders welcomed the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja with appreciation and committment to support the realization of the project. The statement further noted its strategic value, and showed a powerful form of influence in that region of Africa. Undoubtedly, the project will enhance the operational capabilities of the regional organization and further strengthen the entire China-Africa partnership.

In accordance with the agreement concluded between the ECOWAS and the Government of China, the building by the Shanghai Construction Group is expected to become one of the best-equipped new headquarters—accommodating the ECOWAS Commission, Community Court of Justice and the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja. The organization was set up to foster regional unity among its member states, under the ECOWAS Treaty signed on 28th May 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria.