CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The whole notion of sovereignty of state and non-interference in international law has come short with the increase in the number of bilateral and multilateral treaties entered into by States to create a common ground for operation as such facilitates the economic activities within a particular region or geographical sphere. Thus the notion of regional organization came into play with the need felt by state within a region to put their efforts together in order to achieve better benefits.

For some decades now, one could observe a worldwide movement of regional and sub-regional regroupings of countries, aiming at overcoming the low size of the national markets and to increase the capacity of negotiation of these countries with the external such as the ECOWAS in Nigeria and the NAFTA in Northern America.  Since 1951, European integration has undergone a long process proceeded by fits and starts, but nevertheless it has achieved at least relative success. Hannu Herononen (April 2006: 1).

In 2005, cooperation was conducted once again in a new organization, the EU (European Union) which aimed at enlarging the organization, producing deep economic integration, introducing a common currency in twelve of its member States and this reached an agreement on a constitutional treaty, which even further consolidated the position of the EU in relation to its member States. It saw the dawn of day with the Maastricht treaty. Tony S and Chris tuner (2011:8).

In  the  quest  to better  the region  economically, some  of its  objectives are  summarized  thus: -Establish  a  single  common  currency ; To setup  monetary  and  fiscal  targets  for  members countries; Stable  and  sustainable  development; Internal  markets and a Common  European  Area  without  borders.

The successful European integration model, now in existence for more than 50 years, has considerable attraction and impact as an example for many international partners. The enlargement process paved the way for a peaceful unification of the European continent based on the values of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental liberties and the rule of law .Benita Ferrero (2OO7 :11)

Ndongko observes that the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) by the European States and the Latin American Free Trade Area demonstrated both the necessity and possibility of regional economic cooperation in Africa Ndongko w.A (19985:3) The emergence of regional organizations in Africa was as a result of the decolonisation process and the need of African people to achieve economic growth and sustainable development under the pan- African slogan of Nkuame Nkrumah “Africa must unite”.

This quest for unity, led to the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 which was under the supervision of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) through the African Economic Community (AEC) created by the Abuja Treaty of 1991 and which was previously enforced by the Lagos Plan of Action 1980.

This led to the creation of the sub regional groupings such as the SADC in South African countries, ECOWAS in West Africa EAC in East Africa and the CEMAC in Central Africa just to name a few. Today, these AECs are working under the AU created in 2000 to replace the OAU but it was only in 2002 that it became operational and, it sets out to promote peace, stability, development and democracy in Africa.

The formation of the AU gave a new impetus to Africa economic integration agenda as it was established to improve the OAU by adopting better policies and programmes towards the promotion of regional and sub-regional economic integration and development in Africa This was further demonstrated when the AU decided to adopt the NEPAD as a framework for strengthening regional integration institutions envisaged by the Abuja treaty Jijoku (2015: 21)

It is in this light that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has emerged as one of the most active regional integration organizations in Africa after the long process it has undergone since 1957.

The project of ECOWAS was created in 1967 during a conference of WAEC in Accra and after several meetings, the Treaty creating ECOWAS was signed, and ECOWAS is composed of 15 states (after the withdrawal of Mauritania in 2002 After 45 years of existence of the ECOWAS, the West African sub-region seems more integrated into the world market, albeit intra-regional exchanges remains very weak (trade between the Western Africa countries accounts for approximately 15%) Jean Emile (2007:52) it means that nearly the totality of the exchanges of ECOWAS is done with partners located outside of the sub-region. , ECOWAS has contributed to the economic and social development of Nigeria.

Nigeria played a significant role in the creation of ECOWAS in 1975 which has headquarter in Abuja Nigeria’s capital the sub-regional organizations the mission is to foster interstate economic political cooperation among the 15 member state. This ECOWAS vision 2050, a new regional prospective frame of reference for the next the next thirty years proclaim that ECOWAS must become a community of people by placing more emphasis on infrastructure, development, integration, youth and women  Samuel Akpan, (2022:113).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Over the last decades, the rise in the number of regional organization across the globe has resulted in the adoption of modern and more effective regionalization’s policies which could ameliorate the entire process of regionalization as a response to the political, socio- economic and sustainable development need of States.

Africa is remarkable in this increase as it is the continent with the highest number of sub-regional groupings especially due to the inability of African States to sustain themselves after their decolonization in the 1960s. Sanousi Bilal,( 2007: 3-4)

Nevertheless, there has been an uneven advancement of the regionalization process in the world as the developed countries have a more outstanding regional integration model than that of the developing countries which is the basis of this study. The EU is often considered as the most advanced form of regionalization in the world, while regional organization such as the ECOWAS  still have much to achieves since its  creation.

Regionalization has a strong negative effect on Nigeria’s economic performance firstly; ECOWAS implementation of global trade in Nigeria has some negative impact on economic potential of the county this include unemployment, Nigeria has not been able to achieve a sustainable employment through trade, this is due to factors such as poor policy, corruption, which has been a lasting problem to sustainable employment.

Throughout   the past two decades, import bans, tariffs and foreign exchange restrictions have all curbed the flow of good into Nigeria. This will in turn effect sustainable economic growth in Nigeria.

Also, an estimated population of 88.4 Million people in Nigeria lived in extreme poverty and ECOWAS has done little to reduce the rate of poverty and this will eventually led to low level of economic growth and there’s a high level of insecurity which affect sustainable economic growth in Nigeria

In line with this, the problem this research seeks to address is to analyze the reasons for the effect of trade in the economic performance of Nigeria, high right of poverty and insecurity which affect sustainable economic growth in Nigeria.

1.3 Research Questions

1. How has the implementation of global trade by ECOWAS in Nigeria affected sustainable economic growth?
2. What are the measures taken by ECOWAS to reduce poverty and ensure sustainable economic growth in Nigeria?
3. What are the major security issues advanced by ECOWAS toward sustainable economic growth in Nigeria?

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