SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION AND WEST AFRICA REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A PHILOSOPHIC CONSIDERATION

Abstract

South-South Cooperation (SSC) is a term for the coalition of nations of the current Global South, within Africa, Asia and South America, formally designated as ‘Third World’, for surmounting developmental challenges of member nations in response to the hegemonic propensities of Global North key actors. The response informed the scheme of non-alignment conceived by its progenitors, among who include Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere in the 1950s. Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS), established on May 28 1975 through the treaty of Lagos is the umbrella body that encapsulates the countries of Western sub-region of Africa with the cardinal objective of forging cooperation for economic, political, social and cultural integration of member states for enhanced living standards and integral stability. It is membered by fifteen countries of the area to include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. ECOWAS was instituted as an African participation in the broader objective of South-South Cooperation. Questions abound as to the extent ECOWAS has justified in actions and administration, its cardinal objective in line with the visions of SSC. Through an exposition and analysis of ECOWAS activities, this paper presents the gains, problems and prospects of ECOWAS in the regional development of West Africa. The paper posits that the consolidation of the gains of SSC is hugely dependent on the developmental successes of various regional cooperation.