1975 — West Africa Signs the Treaty of Lagos

On May 28, 1975, fifteen West African heads of state signed the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States. Driven by Nigeria's Yakubu Gowon and Togo's leadership, the new bloc pledged to bind their economies together across the old Anglophone and Francophone divides that colonial rule had left behind.

The bloc promised free trade, shared roads, and one people. Fifty years on, ECOWAS has kept borders open and peacekeepers deployed, and even as three members walked away in 2025, the experiment endures. The treaty remains a wager that neighbors who trade and travel together can also keep peace together across West Africa.