The Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICE) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is a body that was created by the UN General Assembly. In West Africa, it meets annually to discuss the economic and social performances of countries of the region, based on reports prepared by the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA/SRO-WA). The Office is based in Niamey, Niger, and covers the fifteen ECOWAS Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Senior officials and experts from these Member States make up the West African ICE.

The ICE is hosted each year, at its request, by a Member State from the sub-region. Consequently, the 23rd Conference of the West Africa ICE, to be held in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, will take place virtually from November 26 to 27, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in partnership with the hosting country. The main theme of the ICE is: “Maximizing Investments to Optimize Demographic Dynamics in a COVID 19 era: The Imperative of Building Back Better”. This ICE Conference will be preceded by an ad hoc and virtual meeting of think tanks enlarged to include national experts, which will take place from November 24-25, 2020 under the theme: “Generational Economics and Structural Transformation amid COVID-19 in West Africa”.