Regional Integration and Sustainable Development in West Africa: The Role of Governance Quality
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Date
2026-02-26
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National Institute for Legislative & Democratic studies (NILDS), National Assembly, Abuja
Abstract
Regional integration offers substantial potential for advancement, but West Africa's economic growth and development through cross-border trade remain below optimal levels, impeding progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 17 (SDGs). This study examines the role of governance quality on the effectiveness of regional integration and sustainable development in West Africa from 1996 to 2022. A modified Cobb-Douglas production function, augmented with trade integration and governance quality, was estimated using the Dynamic Panel Model with Interacting Effects (DPMEs) method, specifically the system GMM. Variables such as the adjusted net savings, which served as the proxy for sustainable development, capital stock, number of labour employed, trade integration and index of the six governance quality indicators, which were sourced from the World Bank’s Development Indicators (WDI) and Governance Indicators (WGI), respectively. The findings revealed that governance quality has a positive and long-run significant impact on sustainable development in West Africa. But the relationship was found to be weak due to the regional characteristics. regional integration offers substantial potential for advancement, West Africa's economic growth and development through cross-border trade remain below optimal levels, impeding progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines the role of governance quality on the effectiveness of regional integration and sustainable development in West Africa from 1996 to 2022. A modified Cobb-Douglas production function, augmented with trade integration and governance quality, was estimated using the Dynamic Panel Model with Interacting Effects (DPMEs) method, specifically the system GMM. Variables such as the adjusted net savings, which served as the proxy for sustainable development, capital stock, number of labour employed, trade integration and index of the six governance quality indicators, which were sourced from the World Bank’s Development Indicators (WDI) and Governance Indicators (WGI), respectively. The findings revealed that governance quality has a positive and insignificant impact on sustainable development (measured by Adjusted Net Saving (ANS)) in the short run, but is significant in the long run, implying that the quality of governance in achieving sustainable development in West Africa is weak. The lag in the number of people employed showed a negative and insignificant impact on sustainable development, suggesting that an increased level of unemployment could deter sustainable development. However, trade integration and the interaction of governance quality with trade integration showed positive and significant impacts, reflecting efficiencies in regional trade practices due to moderate governance quality in the region. The study therefore recommends that strategic economic policy measures like free trade, and governance policies like employment opportunities, and regional cooperation should be adopted to accelerate sustainable development in West Africa.
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