This document discusses the challenges facing integration efforts of the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It outlines the historical evolution of both organizations and their objectives. Some of the main hurdles to integration in Africa mentioned include economic weaknesses in African countries, a lack of commitment to agreements, inadequate private sector involvement, and lengthy customs procedures. Other challenges are lack of intra-African trade due to similar industries and high transport costs, as well as problems with secretariat management and policy harmonization. Bad governance and instability in many African nations pose additional barriers to successful regional integration.

1. The AU and ECOWAS:
Challenges and
Prospects

2. By
Vladimir Antwi-Danso (PhD)
Snr. Research Fellow
Legon Centre for International Affairs
University of Ghana,
Legon – Accra
Ghana
Tel: 233-21-50102
Cell:233-244-613282
vladanso@yahoo.com
Vantwi-Danso@ug.edu.gh

3. The Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS)
Mauritania has
rejoined the
Community -2006
3

4. The African Union

5. Introduction
ECOWAS was conceived as a means
toward economic integration and
development intended to lead to the
eventual establishment of an
economic union in west Africa,
ensuring economic stability and
enhancing relations among member
states

6. Introduction Cont’d
The OAU (the precursor to the AU), on the
other hand, had the following objectives:
To rid the Continent of the remaining
vestiges of colonialism and apartheid;
To promote unity and solidarity among
African states
To coordinate and intensify cooperation
for development;

7. OAU Objectives cont’d
To safeguard the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Member States;
and
To promote international cooperation
within the framework of the United
Nations.

8. Introduction (cont’d)
The OAU, having fulfilled the basic aims of
its formation, was transformed into the AU,
with a view, inter-alia, to accelerating the
process of integration in the continent to
enable it play a meaningful role in the
global economy, while addressing
multifaceted social, economic, and political
problems, compounded as they are by
certain negative aspects of globalization.
The basic platform for the realization of
this noble goal was the 1991 Abuja Treaty
–The AEC project.

9. Aim
Our basic aim this morning, would,
therefore, be to highlight the basic
challenges confronting the two
integration projects of the AU and
ECOWAS as well as conjecture what
prospects there are, if any, for
surmounting those challenges.

10. Scope
In realizing this aim, we shall go through
the following scope:
Historical Evolution of the AU and
ECOWAS
Main Hurdles of Integration in Africa
Prospects
The Way Forward

11. Historical Evolution (ECOWAS)
Founded in May 1975
Spearheaded and inspired into action by
the then Heads of State of Nigeria
(Yakubu Gowon) and Togo (Gnassingbe
Eyadema)
Pre-colonial agitation and Nkrumah’s
OAS, as well as President Tubman’s
eagerness contributed immensely towards
the formation of ECOWAS

12. ECOWAS - Evolution
Treaty Revised in July 1993 with a new
aim
“to reaffirm the establishment of the
ECOWAS and decide that it shall
ultimately be the sole economic
community in the region for the
purpose of economic integration and
the realization of the objectives of the
African Economic Community”

13. ECOWAS Headquarters in Abuja
13

14. The AU - Evolution
Pan Africanist Congress of 1945
The OAS
Prelude to the OAU
 The Polarization of Integration
 The Role of the Cold War
The Sitr Declaration
The AU is born
The NEPAD

15. The AU
African countries resolved to move
towards a more resolute union by
establishing the African Union in 2001 to
replace the OAU. Basically the AU was
meant to:
 Accelerate the implementation of the
Abuja Treaty
 Strengthen the RECS and
 Speed up the establishment of the
continent’s institutions of the AEC.

16. The Nature of Integration
The various approaches
The political/security type
Loose Trade Confederation
The Market Approach
The Production Approach**
The Institutional Approach**
Infrastructural Approach**

17. What is Regionalism and/or regional
Integration?
Definition/Approaches
 Reciprocal Reduction of trade barriers
 Regional trading arrangements
Regionalism or Regional integration may thus be
defined as the “Commercial policy of
discriminatively reducing or eliminating trade
barriers only among the nations joining
together” The degree, though, of economic
integration varies.
Basically therefore, integration is trade-induced

18. Degree (Types) of Integration
For the attainment of a full-fledged
integration, a regional bloc may have to
go through four main stages of economic
cooperation.

19. A Free Trade Area (FTA), in which
members remove trade barriers among
themselves, but keep their separate
national barriers against trade with the
outside world.
e.g. European Free Trade Area formed
in 1960.
North American Free Trade Area
(NAFTA), which was formally incepted in
1994.

20. A Customs Union, in which again
members remove all barriers to
trade among themselves and adopt
a common set of external barriers.
By so doing, the need for customs
inspection at internal borders is
eliminated. The European Economic
Community (EEC) from 1957 to
1992 had included a customs union
along with some other agreements.

21. A Common Market, where members
allow full freedom of factor flows
(migration of labour or capital) among
themselves in addition to having a
customs union. It should be noted that,
despite its name, the European
Common Market (or EEC, then EC or
EU) was not a common market up
through the 1980s, because it still had
substantial barriers to the international
movement of labour and capital. The EU
became a common market, and more, in
reality at the end of 1992.

22. Full Economic Union (Community), in
which member countries unify all their
economic policies, including monetary,
fiscal, and welfare. Policies toward trade
and factor migration are also
harmonized. The EU has approached
full unity, though governments keep
much of their tax autonomy. Monetary
union has been achieved, even though
some members (Great Britain for
instance) are still outside of the total
monetary integration.

23. FEATURES OF BLOC
Type of Free Trade Common Free Harmonization
Bloc among the External Movement of of all Economic
members Tariffs Factors of Policies (fiscal,
Production Monetary,
etc,.)
Free Trade + - - -
Area (FTA)
Customs + + - -
Union
Common + + + -
Market
Economic + + + +
Union

24. Challenges to Integration in
Africa (AU and ECOWAS)

25. HURDLES OF INTEGRATION IN
AFRICA
 Economic weakness and relative
stagnancy of African economies
and its negative impact on
government policies
 The lack of full commitment in the
sense of the failure to incorporate
agreements reached by different
integration schemes in national
plans

26. Challenges
The private sector which is the engine
of economic growth, has not been
actively involved in the effort to
advance integration by the various
African States
Inability of the members of economic
blocs to create the facilities and
mechanisms necessary to expedite the
movement of goods and services

27. Challenges
Procedures governing free
movement of goods and services
are lengthy and cumbersome and
often lead to delays and
unnecessary bureaucratic work
The dis-equalizing effect of
integration

28. Challenges
Lack of intra-African trade. African
countries produce the same things and
therefore compete with one another.
Further, there is no adequate transport
infrastructure for intra-African trade.
Even when tariffs have been reduced
and intra-country transport links are
open, the costs of transport between
countries forming a cooperation bloc
tend to be high.

29. The African Development Report 2003
laments Africa’s abysmal performance in
the area of trade thus: “African regional
arrangements have not succeeded in
appreciably expanding intra-African trade,
increasing Africa’s trade or enhancing the
region’s overall economic growth…..Inter-
regional trade has stagnated at around 10
percent of Africa’s total trade”.

30. There are problems of operational and
institutional nature, which make intra-African
cooperation difficult. These relate to
information, banking, language, costs of
promotion, prices of research, etc.
To the above may be added the issue of
trade creation. Some countries put accent on
calculation of costs and benefits on short-term
basis. Yet, the effects of changes in relative
prices, brought about by eliminating trade
barriers among the participating countries, is
realized in the long-term as cooperation
arrangements do not accrue benefits
immediately to developing economies.

31. Another problem relates to the running and
management of the secretariats of the
economic blocs. Some of the problems are of
administrative nature but are linked to policies
pursued by governments. Such roadblocks,
inter alia, include: -
 The limitations put by member states on chief
executives’ independence to recruit staff and
manage secretariats, and the tendency of some
countries to force candidates on the secretariats
and to listen to complaints from staff members who
are their nationals about the management of the
secretariats
 Short-termism

32. Other Challenges Relate to:
 The Difficulties in macro-economic
policy harmonization
 Duplication/ The Spaghetti Bowl
 Elite non-complementarity
 Bad governance and the spectre of
intra-state wars.
 The Challenge of globalization

33. The Banjul (2006) Accepted
Groupings
33 Vlad 2011

34. Spaghetti Bowl of African Integration
34

35. Instability
Bad Governance has created conditions of
instability in most parts of Africa. In fact,
Africa is known to have produced most of
the incompetent, rapacious, and
grotesquely predatory governments in the
world.
Lack of prudence in economic governance,
corruption, clientilism, exclusivism, and
profligacy have often led to impoverishment
of large sections of society in Africa, leading
often to insurgency and civil unrests,
including war. Instability is the worst enemy

36. Rwanda Genocide

37. The Result of bad Governance

39. Prospects
Increasing Realization that Integration is a
sine-qua-non to development
Global support to integration
The EU Success story
The Emergence of New African Leaders
The NEPAD
The Activism of CSOs

40. The Way Forward
Diversification of Production
Increased Intra-African Trade
Intensive overhaul of infrastructure
Intensive cooperation in Community
Projects (WAPP, WAGPP, etc.)
Elite socialization
Rationalization of the RECs
Intensive involvement of the socio-
economic partners in development

41. The Way Forward (cont’d)
Realization of the NEPAD ideals
Establishing the Institutional props to
integration and staffing them with
technocrats, instead of politicians
Re-orienting Frontline Institutions (CEPS,
Immigration etc)
Increased Democracy and Good
Governance and eliminating the specter of
wars.
Complement the good works of the AfDB
through prudence in economic
governance

42. Conclusion
There is obviously only one
conclusion!

43. “Africa is beyond bemoaning the past for its
problems.
The task of undoing the past is ours, with the
support of those willing to join us in a continental
renewal.
We have a new generation of leaders who know
that we must take responsibility for our own
destiny, that we will uplift ourselves only by our
own efforts with those who wish us well”.
Nelson Mandela