Nigeria performs low in financial, macroeconomic integration among ECOWAS

Nigeria, the first contributor of wealth creation in the African region, performed low, ranking 22 out of 27 countries, with 0.289 scores in the financial and macroeconomic integration dimension of the Africa Regional Integration index report 2016.

The index report ranked Niger number with 1.000 scores, Burkina Faso scored 0.982, ranking number 2, Senegal ranked number 3 with 0.981 scores, while Ghana ranked 19 with total score of 0.349, all are ahead of Nigeria.

Nigeria represents 37 percent of regional GDP but was not in the top performers on regional integration, neither was Egypt, which represents 18 percent of regional GDP.

Regional integration is about getting things moving freely across the whole of Africa.

Under dimension of trade integration in the index report, Nigeria ranked 8 with 0.500 scores, lower than Cote d’Ivoire which ranked number 1 with 0.963 scores.

The index report further revealed that Nigeria was number 7 in ranking, scoring 0.331 lower than Libya which scored 0.663, ranking number 1 in the regional infrastructure dimension.

In the productive integration dimension, Nigeria ranked 22, scoring 0.109 lower than Kenya which ranked number 1 with 0.746 scores, and Ghana with 0.317 scores, ranking number 8.

Nigeria ranked number 10, scoring 0.691 lower than Cote d’Ivoire which ranked number 1 with 0.800 scores and also lower than Gambia which ranked number 7, scoring 0.722 in the free movement of people dimension.
Most African countries agree that regional integration is a goal which they should all aspire to, in order to foster inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development.

Africa has spent much of the past decade investing in physical infrastructure, but it must not forget the development of human capital, the report urges. Investing in education, particularly in science and technology, will bring about great gains for the citizens of the continent.

Developed jointly by the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank, the report posits that regional integration can enable innovation to generate greater competitiveness and trade, boosting integration, growth and development.

“As countries grow in innovation capacities, they are likely to integrate even more with each other through investment, supply chains, trade, knowledge and mobility,” said David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa.

Charles Lufumpa, Acting Chief Economist of AfDB, said, Africa’s regional integration has changed and improved over the past five years”, culminating in the formation of a tripartite free trade area, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the AU’s Agenda 2063 and negotiations on the establishment of a continental free trade area.
“A lot of progress has been made but we still have problems with energy shortages which pose serious constraints on businesses; lack of integrated infrastructure, and slow implementation of policy”, Lufumpa added.

 

Hope Moses-Ashike