Engendering Sub-regional Integration in West Africa: A Policy Analysis

Regional integration is considered as a blueprint of the collective economic existence of countries around the world has gained prominence in recent times (Maiyaki, 2017), therefore, regional integration has provided the platform for countries the options of cooperation and competition. The significance of regional integration is an extremely appropriate issue in Africa, especially in light of existing political and economic shortcomings (Kouassi, 2016:88). Saku (2016:2) maintains that Africa is swarmed with the most profound levels of destitution, least offer of world exchange, and weakest advancement of human capital and foundation, without a doubt. It is a direct result of this that regional integration is required in Africa, as this will help with upgrading economic development (Saku, 2016:2-3). Hence, the economic integration agenda of ECOWAS in West Africa is patterned along the lines of the European Union. Thus, it should be emphasised that the ECOWAS Protocols on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services, Rights of Residence, and Establishment actually divulged compilation that is similar to the EU Protocols in so many respects. Since globalization has brought countries with firmly binding ties and economic commitment across different borders, it follows therefore that the factors that affect the integration process in the European Union have great potentials of spilling over to the other economies and more particularly the West Africa Sub-region (Maiyaki, 2017). In conclusion, this paper interrogates the factors that have encumbered the development of the ECOWAS experimentation in attaining the forestalled goals of sub-regional integration agenda and, additionally, espouses the potential gains of moving on with the strategy as a solution to the current unacceptable and intolerable economic conditions in the sub-region of West Africa.