By Victoria Ojeme

ABUJA – The draft document on the administration of the Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone, COPAZ, made up of Nigeria, Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana, is to be reviewed by a body of law experts to make the new economic bloc within the ECOWAS sub-region more effective.

COPAZ is a new concept conceived by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, geared towards changing contiguous states from relative heterogeneity to increase homogeneity in the areas of culture, security, economic policies and political cooperation without necessarily culminating in a political fusion.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, who spoke at the opening of the meeting of law experts in Abuja, weekend, harped on the need for integrated economy of member countries that shared the same border, as a strategic response to the challenges of global competition.

He said: “Imperative of global competitiveness, challenges and opportu-nities of globalisation and interdependence have made genuine cooperation and integration of African countries necessary. ”