ECOWAS PROTOCOL ON TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE CHALLENGES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on trade liberalization and the challenges of economic development in Nigeria. The study was built within the framework of Neo-functionalist approach. Information/data for the study were generated from both primary (interview) and secondary sources. The study revealed that ECOWAS has acquired many decisions but few are implemented with additional challenges of meeting targets. A major challenge discovered by the study is that ECOWAS Member States trade more with the rest of the world and in particularly with developed economies than with Member States. For instance, Nigeria’s major trade partners are India and China, Mali’s are China and the European Union (EU), Sierra Leone and Gambia’s major trade partners are the EU, while Burkina Faso and Niger mostly trade with Europe, among others. The study established that the lack of political will among ECOWAS members to submit part of their sovereignty, lack of trust among member-states, refusal to fully implement the free movement of goods, persons and right of establishment provisions by member-states, language barrier, and colonial differences as challenges to proper implementation of the policies and protocol studied. Appropriate strategies or frameworks to deal with the excessive smuggling of foreign goods into Nigeria through her immediate neighbours must be put in place. The study recommends the creation of an agency called Border Defence and Management Agency (BODMA) by the Federal Government of Nigeria. In order to stop or reduce, the excessive importation of foreign goods into Nigeria and reap the industrial benefits of the scheme, Nigeria must venture into the domestic development and acquisition of high technology oriented industries or sectors so as to acquire the momentum or impetus for widening and diversifying the productive base of the economy.