Summary of the Project:

The project is a UNODA UNSCAR-sponsored project that seeks to enhance transparency in military expenditure reporting to the UN. Transparency in military expenditure reporting is a Confidence and Security Building Measure (CSBM) among states in the same region that goes a long way in allaying fears of a hidden military strength.  However, in recent reporting cycle to the UN military expenditure reporting instrument, only one country from Africa reported and that was Senegal. This is very poor. 

This UNSCAR supported project is examining the reason why this is so through a 3-country study of Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal. Why do countries in West Africa fail to report their military expenditure to the UN Reporting instrument? There is evidence that they produce the data annually and this is available in some of their ministries’ websites. However, this is never reported to the UN instrument; why? This is the focus of the study.

The outcome of the study will be used in a capacity building workshop involving ECOWAS member states’ officials dealing with military (security) expenditure or expenditure of the security sector broadly.

To be effective, the project would leverage the convening power of ECOWAS to address its Chiefs of Defence Staff later in 2024 in order to present the outcome of the study. It is hoped that the enggement with defence chiefs in the sub-region would result in a better understanding of the UN objective for seeking military expenditure data and soliciting the support of states in achieving that goal. This understanding by those directly responsible for the data would lead to increased reporting to the UN. ECOWAS has already agreed to this arrangement and would further avail the project available information on its member states’ no-objection requests to purchase weapons in line with the intra-regional agreeemnt on information sharing on such issues for security and confidence building puroposes.

Statement of the Problem:

Research has shown that while West African countries publish data on military expenditure at the national level, the countries in the region do not report to the UN through its reporting system. Omitoogun (2003, 2006) and (Tian et. al 2018) confirm this in their separate studies.  Given the objective of the UN Report on Military Expenditure to serve as Confidence and Security Building Measure (CSBM) between states to enhance international transparency on military matters, increase predictability of military activities reduce the risk of military conflict, investigating why these countries produce data but fail to report to the UN system should be a serious reearch focus. This is in view of the significance of information on military matters in a region as fragile as West Africa (due to its history of armed conflict, regional (subregional) security complexes and the current instability in the Sahel). The task becomes even more appealing in view of the fact that the regional organisation, ECOWAS, does not have its own system of reporting on military matters, which could have been argued was the reason for the counries not to report to the UN. Yet, informtaion sharing on military matters at the sub-regional level would go a long way in strenghtening the robust peace and security architecture of ECOWAS and reduce ,to the barest minimum, any mututal suspicion among its member states that could lead to military conflict.

Studies such as SIPRI’s A Practical Guide to State Participation in the UN Report on Military Expenditure (2022) represent good and useful practical guidance to reporting, using the simplified reporting instrument. However, there are good reasons to think that there are also other factors responsible for the low reporting. The fact that the level of reporting has declined over time (e.g. from 81 countries in 2002 to 47 countries in 2020) suggests that there are other reasons that have not been investigated, making this project important and timely.

The outcome of the investigation into the reasons for low reporting in West Africa would form the basis of a capacity building workshop that would ensure the development of specific solutions to address the identified challenges and ensure improved reporting to the UN. It could also serve as a basis to start a regional reporting instrument at the ECOWAS headquarters. 

Objective:

The project has three inter-related objectives:

1. To understand the reasons why ECOWAS member states do not report to the UN Report on Military Expenditure through a 3-country study;
2. To use the outcome of the 3-country study in a capacity building workshop to increase the capacity of ECOWAS member states to report to the UN;
3. Through the efforts above, increase the number of African States reporting on their military expenditure to the UN.

Methodology:

The project on evidence based capacity-building for ECOWAS states is in two, locked steps, involving three countries in West Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. The first step is to conduct the study on why these countries do not report their military expenditure to the UN Report on Military Expenditure. In the case of Senegal what is the country doing right and what reasons account for its ‘consistency’ in reporting to the UN Report on Milex.

The outcome of the 3-country study would be used for a capacity building workshop for ECOWAS member states in order to improve their understanding of the process and their reporting to the UN.

To aid the process of the research, 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative will organise an online (virtual) half a day workshop to enlighten the researchers on the issues involved in military transaprency broadly and UN reporting instrument in particular. SIPRI research staff would be engaged to make presentations on their study on UN reporting instrument and transparency in military expenditure broadly. UNODA would also make a presenation on the status of reporting by African countries and the channel through which the UN requests for military expenditure data from countries. It is expected that these presenations would prepare the researchers for the filed research and identify the appropriate questions to investigate in the field. 

Expected outcome of the project:

1. An understanding of why countries, generally, but specifically West African Countries, have not been reporting their military expenditure to the UN Report on Military Expenditure. This could provide a basis for better knowledge of why other regions of the world similar to the countries in the study are responding in much the same way to the reporting system.

2. The findings of the three-country study would form the basis of an evidenced-based capacity building workshop for all ECOWAS Member states where identified factors militating against reporting of military expenditure by states to the UN would be addressed to enhance or develop the capacities of states to report their military expnditure. 

3. The project could also serve  to encourage ECOWAS, through its political Affairs, Peace and Security Directorate, to embark on developing a reporting instrument on military expenditure to suit its member states’ preferences.

Duration:

The project is for 12 Months, December 2023 to Nov 2024.

About the Organization

21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative is a civil society oirganization incorporated in 2014 and based in Abuja, Nigeria. Its mandate is to serve as a platform for good governance and societal development, through policy advocacy for inclusive participation and people-centered research towards sustainable peace and development. Its target groups cut across Youth, Women, and People with Disability with a special interest in political and economic empowerment for the betterment of the society through popular participation in governance.