The ECOWAS Commission and the World Bank, through the West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) programme, convened a regional validation workshop from 24 to 27 June 2025 in Accra, Ghana. The workshop brought together foundational identity (fID) agencies and functional service providers from WURI participating countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Togo), alongside representatives from ECOWAS Member States, to review and validate two strategic documents: the Stakeholders Assessment, Engagement and Management Strategy, and the Foundational Identification Systems Interoperability and Mutual Recognition of ID Credentials Strategy.
The aim of the Stakeholders Strategy is to ascertain the broad spectrum of actors in the foundational and functional ID ecosystems in the countries while the Interoperability Strategy aims to support the countries to make informed decision in the formulation, harmonisation and adoption of a common position on the fID systems interoperability and mutual recognition of fID credentials agenda. The latter equally seeks to guide the WURI participating countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Togo) on the right steps towards the realisation of the programme success.
Delivering the keynote address, Ghana’s Minister of the Interior, Honourable Mubarak MOHAMMED-MUNTAKA, emphasized the profound importance of identity, not merely as legal recognition but as a fundamental human right and an enabler of access to services, social protection, security, economic inclusion, and regional integration. He praised the WURI initiative as a vital opportunity to ensure that “everyone counts”. “WURI represents our collective aspiration for a more inclusive and connected West Africa, where everyone counts,” he stated.
Mr. Emil Tesliuc, Senior Economist and Social Protection Specialist/WURI Regional Task Team Leader of the World Bank urged all participants to reflect on the significance of WURI’s development agenda of fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals target 16.9 – “to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration” – by 2030, and its transformative potential in the West African region in creating a seamless, interoperable ID system that will serve as a tool for inclusion, regional integration and development, whilst mitigating the negative effects of the use of multiple single-use functional ID credentials for service delivery – the effect of which is disproportionately borne by the poor and marginalised population.
The Chairperson of the Coordination Committee and WURI Project Coordinator of Niger, Mr. Abdourazakhe ABANI on his part, stressed the importance of preserving the principles of integration which are essential and indispensable to the survival of African nations and urged everyone to participate actively in the workshop as it is helping to put in place instruments that will enable millions of citizens living in our common space to access basic services offered by public and private providers in each country and on a cross-border scale.
Speaking on behalf of H.E. Mrs Massandje TOURÉ-LITSE, ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mr. Albert SIAW-BOATENG, Director of Free Movement of Persons and Migration, stated: “The Strategies were developed in such a manner that the accomplishments in the WURI participating countries are not infringed upon and they are coming to fruition at a time countries across the region are digitising their ID systems for improved service delivery, free mobility of persons, and regional integration”. He also expressed hope that the strategies would be utilised in a such a manner that WURI is beneficial to all – the people, the governments and businesses.
The Strategies were developed in collaboration and coordination with the lead ID agencies in the region, including Burkina Faso and Niger and are expected to guide long-term digital transformation efforts in the identity and service delivery space. The workshop featured stimulating deliberations which resulted in concrete recommendations amongst which include for the region to advance its digitisation agenda particularly that its benefits outweighs the risks and for ECOWAS and WURI participating countries to adopt a progressive approach to the deployment of interoperability due to the varying levels of development of countries’ fID systems and of maturity of their digital economy ecosystems.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).