The recent meeting of ECOWAS government experts concluded in Dakar, Senegal, after three days of deliberations. The focus was on the draft act establishing the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) regional data exchange platform and its standard operating procedures.
Experts from the Ministries of Interior Security, Justice, and Foreign Affairs of ECOWAS Member States reviewed WAPIS’s articles and discussed its operational protocols. Mr. Richard Gotwe, Head of the WAPIS Programme, provided a presentation detailing the program’s objectives. He emphasized that WAPIS aims to enable police officers in West Africa to access crucial criminal databases regionally and nationally, enhancing efforts against transnational organized crime and terrorism.
Mr. Gotwe highlighted that ECOWAS is unique in Africa for setting up a Schengen-type information system for law enforcement benefits. Dr. Abdourahmane Dieng, Head of the ECOWAS Regional Security Division, expressed gratitude to the European Union for supporting WAPIS and other peace initiatives in West Africa through funding by the ECOWAS Commission.
Dr. Dieng also thanked INTERPOL’s Secretary General for technical support received during WAPIS implementation across member states.
At the conclusion of their work, experts adopted several recommendations aimed at furthering WAPIS implementation. These included urging the ECOWAS Commission to ensure adoption of the Additional Act on Regional WAPIS Platform by December 2025 and integrating it within their Regional Security Division.
Participating countries were encouraged to sustain their commitments towards WAPIS systems by updating legal frameworks where necessary, allocating qualified staff and independent budgets for system operations, and deploying WAPIS throughout national territories.
The meeting recommended cooperation among fully operational countries—Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Togo—within the regional framework post-adoption of the Supplementary Act. Discussions with EU on future consolidation phases under NDICI were suggested along with seeking support from other partners for participating countries in WAPIS initiatives.
Member States were advised to cover full operational costs for national systems’ maintenance and make using WAPIS compulsory across all law enforcement agencies while involving managers from national data centers in related activities.
