Regional Integration and Industrial Development: The African Experience

This study theoretically examines the role of African regional integration in promoting industrialisation in the continent. We traced the effort of various Regional Governments, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and African Union (AU) in promoting industrialisation in Africa. The stage of industrial development in Africa is still at the primordial level, making Africa depend mainly on the primary commodity for export, leading to the reduction in the continents share of the global export of manufactured good, increase in unemployment, and poverty. The study, therefore, argues that regional integration is a veritable instrument in achieving structural transformation and industrial development in Africa. We, therefore, recommend that the Regional Economic Communities should be reorganised in order to facilitate the ratification and implementation of the regional integration agenda which has direct consequence on sustainable industrialisation in Africa.