Regional groupings are the key organizations involved in the drive for African development.Such organizations as the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Commission (SADC)provide enormous opportunities for growth and development which are currently grossly underexploited.Hence African states are in a poor position on the negotiating table of International trade forum.
This situation can and must be reversed if Africa is to meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations Organization (UNO) and the New partnership for African Development (NEPAD).The solutions to the doldrums are:
1.Counter part funding,pooling and IMF power (foreign funding),risk management:With revolving grants providing counterpart funding for the most financially feasible projects,more developmental funding can be attracted thereby reducing further still the marginal risk and cost of raising funds for development.Regional groups must also pool together political resources at international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.This could enable African states some measure of control over the allocation of funds by these organizations' for developmental projects all over the globe.
2.Comparative advantage exchanges as a tool for boosting inter regional trade:Multilateral agreements should be followed by bilateral agreements:multilateral agreements tend to lump together the needs and aspirations of states with different histories,cleavages etc.The internalization of multilateral economic agreements should not be the final step:various states with regional grouping should also exchange bilateral agreements which would boost the comparative advantage of participating countries.When this is done,exports receive a boost while new industries can be set up given the availability of inputs
3. Manpower development.The Technical Aid Corps of Nigeria for instance,is a great opportunity for African states to share information.We live in an information wherein information leads to wealth.The Corps should be in the form of an internship as a follow up to the National Youth Service Corps.Interns get access to credit instead of credit and the best performances get grants and special employment opportunities,scholarships.The US Peace Corps, which hitherto has no access to Africa (due to fear of conflicts and disease),can provide e learning and correspondence courses as well as logistic support which could improve funding opportunities.This will halt the spate of illegal immigrations which strain resources of many developed countries and also check the incessant crises over scarce resources
4.Mutual security:safety is a key ingredient of development.Regional groupings must assist one another to check trans border crimes and also to protect democracy using the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).The African Customs Union should design an information management system that would be backed by the International Police.This will also be backed by a system of checks and balances in order to block compromise.Regional groupings should also have military arms such as the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG)which should be backed by African Command(AFRICOM).These military arm should defend democracy and assist in checking heavy duty trans border crimes.
