The ECOWAS Community Computer Centre (CCC) was established following Decision C/DEC.2/6/86 of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in July 1986. As an Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) service centre for the Community’s institutions, programmes and projects in Member States, CCC was set up with a regional mandate and mission to serve as the harbinger of change and the introducer of modern management methods into the working culture of Member States and Community institutions.

Again the CCC was created to be a service Centre for the Community, particularly with regards to the training, orientation, guidance and provision of technical assistance required by Member States to embrace the use of computer technology in their work processes.

Thus among the very first few engagements of the CCC was the support provided by the Centre for the deployment of ASYCUDA software by customs administrations in the region. The implementation of ASYCUDA had a three-pronged purpose of:

• Recording and establishing national, intra-community and external trade data and statistics for planning purposes both at the national and regional levels;
• Providing a basis for the calculation of compensation payments due Member States as a result of the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme; and
• Helping to plug leakages in customs receipts which formed about 65% of government fiscal revenue and thereby improve the economies of individual Member States and the regional economy altogether.

The economy improvement focus therefore maintained the drive for the CCC and continues to sustain some of its activities to date. Principal among these is the ALISA customs interconnection project – the trade facilitation project intended to permit data and information exchange among customs administrations and all stakeholders involved in trade and trade logistics.

However in consonance with its mandate, the Centre did not fail to address other modernization issues and initiated programmes and projects and pursued discussions with Member States and international experts in the following sectors:

• e-products and services using e-learning as the driver;
• The listing of products and services on the Internet with opportunity for economic operators to offer or make demands for such products and/or services – ECOBIZ software and web interface;
• The interconnection of all regional institutions and related ministries in Member States in a regional network for Community business – the ECOWAS Wide Area Network (ECOWAN) network among others.

This inclination is a determined effort to bridge the digital divide through various developmental channels especially one of which is capitalizing on and involving the e-savvy and ICT-impassioned youth in the region to provide skills to schools, colleges and universities as a springboard for the launching of e-entrepreneurship in the region.

The CCC was relocated to Abuja in September 2007. Meanwhile its projects have expanded and taken on more regional dimensions among which are:

• The imminent launching of the Centre of Excellence for Trade Automation and Development;
• The creation of the Centre for Excellence for Skills Enhancement for Artisans; and
• The creation of the e-Services Agency.

AGYEMAN DUAH Osei Tutu – Director CCC