ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: DOES MODERN WEST AFRICA NEED ANY HISTORICAL LESSONS?
Keywords:
Economic integration, common market, historical lessons, common currency, colonial rule, neo-colonialist forces, African leadersAbstract
The question of economic integration of West Africa has remained one issue that has generated debate and comments from scholars, commentators and politicians of varied persuasions. Sometimes these groups are seen toeing same line of reasoning, at some other times they disagreed on points of policy framework. Whatever may have informed the divergence of opinions among these groups, what remains a recurring decimal that tends to lend weight to the action and inaction of West African political leaders is colonial rule – an epoch that has given rise to neo-colonialist forces. Colonialism as a phase on the African continent was reputed to have divided Africans along ideological lines of different foreign languages as well as European currencies and trading relations. However, the present study is of the opinion that the ugly history of colonial rule can be turned into a blessing by African leaders. Thus, it advocates that this may be possible in-so-far-as the leaders are able to see West Africans as a people with a shared history of European colonial rule and experiences, who should work in concert to determine the direction of their economic fortunes. The study relies on secondary sources for its reconstructions.
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