SOURCE:

Faculty: Social Sciences
Department: Political Science

CONTRIBUTORS:

Okeke, L. A.
Egboh, E. A.

ABSTRACT:

This study critically x-rayed the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act 478 of 1994, under the ECOWAS Sub-Regional Economic Integration Protocols. The objective was to find out whether the implementation of this Act by Ghana was in contravention of the ECOWAS Protocols on Integration. Put differently, whether the implementation of the Act was in compliance with the provisions of Articles 27 (1) and 27 (2) of the 1975 ECOWAS Treaty; Articles 3(1) and 3(2) (a-o) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, as well as the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS); the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Capital and the Rights of Residence and Establishment enacted in 1979. This paper was anchored on Power Theory as theoretical framework. The study hypothesized, among others, that the implementation of the Act 478 of 1994 was in contravention of the ECOWAS Protocols on Integration. The research method adopted in this study was based, purely, on qualitative data; relying on historical and archival method of data collection based on secondary sources of information. This study used a combination of the Content Method and Literal Rule of Statutory Interpretation as instruments of data analysis. The researcher found out that the implementation of the Act 478 of 1994 by Ghana was in contravention of the ECOWAS Protocols on Integration insofar as it amounted to serious infringements on Articles 27 (1) and 27 (2) of the 1975 ECOWAS Treaty, Articles 3(1) and 3(2) (a-o) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, thereby occasioning trade and diplomatic hostility in the Ghana-Nigeria international bilateral relations. The researcher, therefore, recommended a diplomatic resolution of the on-going impasse in Nigeria-Ghana bilateral relations as such an action will be beneficial to both countries and in line with the vision of the founding fathers of ECOWAS.