期刊名称：The Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (JSDA)
电子版ISSN：1520-5509
出版年度：2015
卷号：17
期号：8
页码：313
出版社：Institute of Sustainable Development in Africa
摘要：Integration is a phenomenon that has gained ground among development experts, academics, professionals and the likesthe world over including the West Africa Sub-region. The phenomenon is anchored on the need for development basedon the diverse potentials of all countries in the region. The paper argues that the various components of the region arenaturally endowed along their life zones and that it has participated in the transformation of its economy in the pastthrough its capacity and ability to gain control over its environment. Along the path there was a dislocation anddisconnect which brought about poverty and other features of underdevelopment. To re-enact development for theregion, the paper posits that knowledge, growth, capacity and so on are parts of the components of development that arerequired in the process of deliberate transformation of a society by a conscious people. In effect, development and how itis attained is about ‘people’. Finally, the paper concludes that the removal of the dislocation and disconnect betweenWest African Countries based on Zikist philosophy of the New Africa is fundamental to the desire and attainment ofdevelopment. However, the driving factor of the entire process is the language that reflects the culture and totality of theway of life of West Africans. For the development to be sustained beyond the present generation therefore, the peoplemust connect to the next generation through the instrumentality of language as a preservative, the culture as a reservoir ofways of life that shapes the direction or path of desired development over time.
