The ECOWAS immigration officials, meeting on November 3 and 4, 2026, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, committed to accepting any valid national biometric identity card of the Community at all official border crossing points starting January 1, 2027.
The Freetown Declaration presents this document, called ENBIC, as sufficient proof of the holder’s identity and community citizenship. The commitment must apply even when the country that issued the card has not yet completed its national rollout.
Member States must now inform immigration officers and other border personnel, publish clear procedures, and equip the relevant posts to verify cards issued in other Community countries.
The measure concerns valid ENBIC cards and does not automatically convert any national card into a regional travel document. Until the implementation of the system, travelers remain subject to the documents currently required by the authorities of departure, transit, and destination.
At a ministerial meeting held in May 2026, ECOWAS identified seven countries that had already deployed the card. These were Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
The ECOWAS Commission has been tasked with finalizing the common technical specifications and a regional verification mechanism. It must also monitor the acceptance of the document at borders each year and work with the International Air Transport Association to disseminate the new rules.
The declaration and its recommendations must still be submitted to the competent statutory bodies for review. Immigration officials have planned to assess the progress made at their upcoming meetings.
Member States are also invited to submit their deployment plans to the Commission, including target dates by December 2030, to extend issuance to border areas and nationals residing abroad, and to keep the card financially accessible.
