It’s hard to pin one country in particular that “pioneered” ECOWAS.
The Short Answer is that leaders from Nigeria and Togo (General Yakubu Gowon and Gnassingbe Eyadema, respectively) started pushing for the idea in the early 1970s. Subsequently, ECOWAS was born out of the 1975 Treaty of Lagos
| General Yakubu Gowon |
