Economic and monetary integration efforts in West Africa over the past several decades have been highly problematic. However, with the recent commitment of the international community and key international institutions to assist Africa bring about economic advancement, such integration can be achieved. It is within this context of renewed optimism for Africa that this thesis aims to address the role of law and institutions in facilitating closer economic integration and eventual monetary union among the Anglophone states of West Africa This thesis proposes that legal infrastructure and institutions will help achieve and sustain the WAMZ monetary union. It argues for the development of appropriate infrastructural "pillars" for such a union, which would be brought about by comprehensive regional treaty provisions and structures in conjunction with complementary domestic legal and institutional reforms. It focuses specifically on the existence of adequate legal and institutional framework for the integration of the banking markets, central bank independence, and fiscal management in Member States. In assessing these issues, a comparative analysis is provided between the Monetary Union proposed by the Anglophone West African states (WAMZ) and those of the Francophone West African states (WAMU) and the European Union. Nigeria is used as a case study in assessing the state of preparedness of the Member States of this proposed Union, since it has the largest economy in the sub-region and is the main political driving force behind the project of integration. This thesis is divided into two parts comprising six chapters. Part one, consisting of three chapters, considers the legal and institutional requirements for economic integration. Chapter One presents the preliminary background by considering the relevant theories of economic integration and by assessing the benefits and possible drawbacks of such integration within the context of West Africa. Chapter Two provides a historical analysis of economic regional efforts in Anglophone West Africa. This assessment shows that failures of these efforts are attributed, in part, to inadequate legal and institutional arrangements at the regional level. Chapter Three considers the domestic legal and institutional requirements for effective participation in an economic integration arrangement and provides a case study on Nigeria. Chapters Four to Six constitute part two of the work and assess the legal and institutional framework for the proposed monetary union. This second part considers, specifically, whether Member States possess the legal and institutional requirements for the integration of their banking markets, for the preservation of central bank independence and for the effective conduct of fiscal management. By using international standards of best practices, these Chapters assess the adequacy of relevant institutions in Nigeria, which are necessary preconditions for supporting the proposed monetary union.

The Economic Community of West African StatQs (ECOWAS) was established by treaty in 1975 to promote the economic and political well-being of its 16 regional members. As a coordinated effort of geographically associated states ECOWAS joins an expanding group of regional integration schemes created by developing countries. As an international organization with some claim to supranational authority the success of the ECOWAS scheme is of practical and theoretical importance. Success in this sense implies an increasing level of interaction among the ECOWAS members and the development of a regional economic and political position toward non-member states. This coordination of member states' national policy within a regionally constituted political body offers an interesting laboratory for the examination of regional integration efforts. This paper seeks to establish the degree of integration achieved by the ECOWAS members to date and to chart the progress of that integration over time.