Abstract: Infrastructure development, is an essential ingredient in economic growth, poverty reduction and ensuring broader development goals in any economy. The purpose of this paper is to assess the infrastructure policies and funding programs of ECOWAS that would enable it to achieve its economic objectives. Article 3, Section 1 of ECOWAS Treaty, stated” The aims of the Community are to promote cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa ; to raise the living standards of its peoples; maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent.” Our research findings indicate that ECOWAS has established infrastructure policies and funding sources which reflect ECOWAS’ infrastructure implementation plans for Information and Communication Technology, Transport, and Energy. However, the programs fall short of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) imitative. The four major obstacles to infrastructure development in ECOWAS are insufficient investment financing in transport and energy sub-sectors stemming from inadequate Government budgets and prioritization; limited mobilization of potential investment financing from the vast regional natural resources base; inefficient management structures, discordant frameworks due to lack of requisite technical human resources; and limited regional dimensions to national infrastructure development. Currently, ACOWAS is receiving some funding from Infrastructure Consortium of Africa (ICA), and other sources. It is estimated that the continent’s infrastructure needs per year is $130– 170 billion; with a financing gap in the range of $68–$108 billion; to bridge this gap ECOWAS will need to initiate PPPs.
Keywords: Infrastructure, Economic Development, Consortium, Integration, Strategically, Implementation, Cross-border, Communication, and Technology.
Title: POLICY FORMATION TOWARDS INFRASTRUTURE DEVELOPMENT IN ECOWAS: EVIDENCE AND RESULTS
Author: William Kwame Eduful Dadson, Ph.D
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
Research Publish Journal
