West Africa

West Africa comprises 16 countries and is the most populous region of Africa with a total of 397,3 million people. West Africa is very fragmented along ethnic and religious lines. Based on the number of different indigenous groups and their various home languages this region maybe the most difficult to integrate.

The added complexity is the legacy of the regions colonial past as it is either the country was under the French or British Rule. Further to this the religious divide is quite stark as the countries are also either predominantly of Muslim or Christian faiths, except for Nigeria which is almost split down the middle 50:50. Many of the conflicts in the region have been driven along ethnic/religious lines.

The similarities identified include official languages which are either English or French/Arabic (linked to the strong Islamic roots) with the former French run territories using the West African Franc as a unifying currency for easier trade among themselves, as well as making it easier for France to manage their colonized territories.

In December 2019 the West African region announced really exciting plans to implement a new currency for the region called ’The ECO’, short for ECOWAS. The plan was to roll this currency out by 2020. This currency will replace all existing West African currencies and most importantly the Western African Franc. This will be a big turning point in the region towards liberating itself from the clutches of colonizers and enable smoother trade within the region. The next element is to implement visa free travel for citizens within the region and continent wide and work towards a single African passport.

In addition to the above the region may need to agree to have up to 1 or 2 main regional/official languages (i.e Yoruba, Igbo or other Indigenous languages commonly spoken in the region). These are languages that are spoken by most people in the region. Some countries in Africa tend to make all the main ethnic languages official in the country to ensure preservation of the various groups identity and cultural heritage.

The official business language tends to become dominant as it is used in the work and educational setting and colonizers knew this, which is the reason why they ensured that English and French were the business languages in their colonized territories . Even in the African Union (AU) meetings/sessions these are the two most used languages. Communication is critical to forge a lasting alliance in the region and language is a key ingredient.

A lot of the instability in the region is sponsored by external forces who to this day continue to exert influence on the way these countries are run particularly in the former French run territories. The French are still quite hands-on in the fiscal policies of the countries they had merged into French West Africa in the colonial era and for any integration to happen, they would need to step back and allow these countries to join the new West African Union with a common monetary policy and trade area for integration to succeed.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) established in 1975 to advance the regions economy has to work much harder to really integrate, however this will not be easy with the so called FRANCOPHONE countries still under France’s influence. Some of the larger economies in the block such as Nigeria and Ghana will need to play a strong leadership role in the body to drive this integration.

Some other of initiatives in addition to the ‘the ECO’ that ECOWAS has been planning to integrate the region is improving the rail infrastructure in the region to connect major trade routes between the key markets within the region, however non of these projects have seen implementation yet.

The main industries in the region include crude oil and gas, cocoa, agriculture, fishery. The lack of adequate infrastructure inhibits the movement of goods internally and within the region. The region will need to devise a strategy to attract investment to upgrade physical infrastructure across borders.

Despite the varied cultures, ethnicities and dialects in the entire region West Africans have very common interests which pre-date the colonial era (from the 3 great West African empires – “The Ghana Empire, Mali Empire & The Songhay Empire, as relates to clothes, food and music. These elements are a unique attribute that can be associated with this region and is a source of pride for West Africans. These common cultural elements are an essential building block to build unity in the region.

Other exciting emerging technology initiatives being driven out of West Africa include Akon’s ‘Lighting Africa’ project. Akon is a well-known African American rapper of Senegalese decent. In this billion dollar initiative financed by China he aims to use solar energy to light up the whole of West Africa. In addition to this he is setting up a crypto currency called A-coin, which he hopes can replace all the disparate local unstable currencies all over Africa. In the linked video he talks briefly about his initiatives and is also encouraging African Americans (the African Diaspora) to invest in Africa.