By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
With barely a month to the permanent departure of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from the West Africa regional bloc, the three countries have been given a six-month grace period to reconsider their exit, as Germany tries to counter Russian influence.
As West African heads of state converged on Abuja for the last summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the year, the top item on the agenda was the impending permanent exit of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, jointly referred to as the Alliance of Sahel States (AoSS).
Having rebuffed pleas to return to ECOWAS, the heads of state of the remaining 12 countries decided that.
