REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND CHALLENGES OF FREE TRADE. A CASE STUDY OF ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATE (ECOWAS) 2015-2023

IFENATUORAH, KOSISOCHUKWU EMMANUELLA (2026) REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND CHALLENGES OF FREE TRADE. A CASE STUDY OF ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATE (ECOWAS) 2015-2023. Other thesis, GODFREY OKOYE UNIVERSITY, ENUGU.

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Abstract

This study examines regional economic integration and the challenges of free trade within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over the period 2015 to 2023. Employing a qualitative documentary research design grounded in Comparative Advantage Theory and the Gravity Model of Trade, the study systematically analyses why intra-regional trade has remained persistently low at approximately 11–12 percent of total regional trade despite decades of formal liberalization commitments embodied in the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and related protocols. The study identifies three principal and interrelated barriers to effective free trade integration. First, structural and institutional constraints including pervasive non-tariff barriers, checkpoint proliferation, bureaucratic customs procedures, and critical infrastructure deficits continue to inflate trade costs and suppress intra-regional commerce well below integration objectives. Second, an escalating pattern of political instability between 2020 and 2023, encompassing four military coups and the formal withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from ECOWAS, has directly disrupted the implementation of trade liberalization policies and weakened the bloc's governance architecture. Third, persistent macroeconomic divergence among member states reflected in widespread non-compliance with ECOWAS monetary convergence criteria, significant exchange rate volatility among WAMZ currencies, and wide fiscal policy disparities has imposed substantial transaction cost burdens on intra-regional traders and retarded the pace of economic convergence. The findings validate all three study hypotheses and demonstrate that tariff liberalization alone is insufficient to drive deep regional integration in the absence of complementary infrastructure investment, institutional harmonization, political stability, and monetary policy coordination. The study concludes with evidence-based policy recommendations addressing non-tariff barrier reduction, infrastructure investment, ETLS implementation, democratic governance, monetary convergence, and the integration of informal traders into regional trade frameworks. The study contributes a focused, contemporary analysis of a critical period in ECOWAS history and provides a replicable methodological framework for future research on regional integration in developing-country contexts. Keywords: ECOWAS Regional Economic Integration Free Trade Non-Tariff Barriers ETLS Political Instability Gravity Model Comparative Advantage Intra-Regional Trade West Africa Monetary Convergence

Item Type: Thesis (Other)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Faculty of Management and Social Sciences
Depositing User: CHIBUEZE EZE
Date Deposited: 27 Jul 2026 11:46
Last Modified: 27 Jul 2026 11:46
URI: http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/6034

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