European Biometric ID Program in West Africa: Between European External Border Securitization and ECOWAS Free Movement

This article embodies a major shift from dominant Eurocentric narratives and policy analyses that over-exaggerate the benefits of the EU biometric ID system as a tool that facilitates free intra-regional movement in West Africa. The article argues that the intrusion of EU-funded biometric ID technologies in border security and migration governance seriously undermines ECOWAS Free Movement Protocols. I demonstrate how the EU biometric ID projects and border security measures in West Africa serve the ulterior interests of the two migration collaborating actors - the EU and African governments, while robbing local migrants of their freedom of movement. Basically, the EU migration-development-security nexus and its funding components have become an inducement for African governments to tighten their borders. These financial aids have been generally mismanaged by unscrupulous politicians.