During our field trip to the Togo/Benin boder, we asked the shopkeeper at the Chop bar (local eatery) if she had heard of the Eco before?

All the West African countries want to produce one currency, which is called ECO. She responded in the positive and confirms she had heard of similar common currency during Olympio’s regime (the first Pan African leader of Togo). The old currency looked similar to the ECO, after Olympio’s death we didn't hear of that type of currency again and may be because it was discontinued after his death. . When asked if such a similar kind of currency is introduced back to the system, how they will take it? She said that, they in Togo would like to use one common currency as a legal tender for the West African region that is Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Ghana. Using one currency will be an advantage. Some people want it while others do not, for instance in the western world, Europe and America, they have common currency and when they bring it here, it is accepted as legal tender. When they are not able to change it at black market they fall on the banks.

This point to the fact that Africans patronize currencies far from their continent so why can’t they patronize currencies from within Africa like Ghana and Nigeria since they are neighbor’s. She then added that people who want to swindle would not like the money to be one type because most often one currency is higher than the other.