Free Movement and Regional Integration in the ECOWAS Sub-Region

Abstract This chapter situates attempts at promoting free movement of persons and regional integration in West Africa in a historical perspective. Employing a combination of historical policy research, critical literature review, and an analysis of secondary data, the chapter provides a chronology of the development of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Protocol on Free Movement. This is done within the context of how the implementation of the Protocol facilitate human mobility and regional integration. The chapter pays attention to how the provision of the Protocol enables citizens of the West African region to take advantage of the opportunities in member states, and further explores some of the major challenges in the implementation of the Protocol. The chapter shows that the protocol on free movement allows ECOWAS citizens to continue to travel without visas within the region. Free movement of persons in the region has yielded great economic benefits in terms of boosting intra-regional trade, supporting the livelihoods of Community citizens and increasing remittance flows within the region. Nevertheless, there are still challenges associated with extortion and harassment of migrants at border crossings, and a lack of coherence between the member state national laws and the ECOWAS Protocols has meant that protocol is yet to be fully realised. The chapter also presents analysis of the prospects of recent attempts at strengthening the protocol such as the proposal to lift the provision/restriction that allows/limits member states’ citizens to enter and stay for maximum of 90 days and the proposal for the establishment of a common social security across the region.