Analysis

The Blog Symposium is therefore a collective intellectual journey across Africa’s diverse regions, from north to south, west to east. It reflects a multiplicity of perspectives, backgrounds, and academic traditions, united by a shared commitment to Africa’s economic integration and transformation. This could have not been possible without the assistance, advise and support of Prof Olabisi Akinkugbe and the whole AfronomicsLaw team. We are grateful for this platform which is making an unprecedented contribution in amplifying African voices in the space of international (economic) law.

Collins Ajibo's book is a well-researched body of work that marks a significant contribution to the discourse on African integration. The book's greatest strength lies in its timeliness and depth. Few scholarly works address the AfCFTA with the same level of depth that Ajibo achieves. By dissecting the complexities, challenges, and opportunities of Africa's market integration efforts, the book offers not only guidance but also inspiration to policymakers, scholars, and advocates committed to reshaping Africa's economic trajectory. If the core aim of the book is to clarify and facilitate understanding of the AfCFTA, Ajibo accomplishes this with distinction, delivering insights chapter by chapter.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement signifies a transformative milestone in Africa’s quest for regional economic integration. In The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks, Collins C. Ajibo delivers a rigorous and interdisciplinary analysis of the AfCFTA, deftly integrating legal, economic, and institutional perspectives. The book illuminates the complexities of this ambitious initiative, balancing an exploration of its challenges with an articulation of its immense potential. Ajibo systematically unpacks the theoretical foundations, operational challenges, and transformative possibilities inherent in the AfCFTA, positioning it as a vital mechanism for sustainable development in Africa.

This book is a timely addition to emerging studies on the world’s largest Free Trade Area represented by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Its introduction to the subject of economic integration in Africa under the AfCFTA marks a very crucial intervention as African countries begin to implement the phases of the AfCFTA as envisaged in the agreement. The AfCFTA represents the latest attempt at continent-wide economic integration to bring economic prosperity to the 55 economies that form the African regional market which is inclusive of smaller economies, albeit with great human and economic potential. When fully implemented, the AfCFTA is expected to propel Africa’s current income by as much as 7% by generating an additional income of USD 450 billion.

It could be boldly stated that Collins Ajibo, through his book titled The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks, sets out to fill this gap. The book provides a comprehensive assessment of African economic integration through the lens of International Economic Law. Its analysis is contextualised within the prevailing regional economic integrations, the WTO and the peculiarity of the AfCFTA. It also illustrates the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape the AfCFTA. In doing so, the book accomplishes these by providing interpretative guidance on the AfCFTA; providing guidance to traders, investors, and businesses to optimise opportunities afforded by the AfCFTA; and proffering suggestions to make the AfCFTA successful, that is to achieve sustainable development, Sustainable Development Goals, and other extant objectives. However, the book notes that the realisation of the above objectives is hugely dependent on the low development dynamics.

Ajibo’s The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks offers a comprehensive analysis of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, its challenges, prospects, and recommendations for future directions. The book equally explores the AfCFTA Agreement’s expected impact on economic growth, regional integration, and legal harmonisation, together with its Protocols, thereby serving as the go-to text for students, researchers, and legal practitioners interested in the ambitious goals of the AfCFTA Agreement. Although other textbooks have been written about the AfCFTA, Ajibo painstakingly adds some twists to this text as he examines the AfCFTA Agreement together with its protocols, such as the Protocols on Trade in Services, Trade in Goods, Investment, Intellectual Property, Rules on Dispute Settlement, and Competition Policy.

Collins C Ajibo’s important book, The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks (Routledge, 2024), accomplishes an impressive systematization of the AfCFTA and its protocols, offering critical insights into the policy decisions which inform this international law regime. The AfCFTA is transforming international law, and Ajibo discusses with expertise its most salient innovations, including its extensive interlinkage to sustainable development goals and other regimes, along with concrete proposals for its successful implementation.

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks provides a comprehensive assessment of the African economic integration through the prism and principles of international economic law. The analysis is contextualized within the prevailing regional economic integrations, the WTO and the peculiarity of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Similarly, legal analysis is bolstered by the political economy of the AfCFTA, illustrating the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape the AfCFTA.

Efforts to decolonize international law to make it more universal and inclusive have been underway for some time, with varying degrees of success. One prominent approach in this pursuit is Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), which seeks to challenge and rethink international law from perspectives that center the experiences and histories of the Global South. However, TWAIL does not prescribe a specific methodology, allowing scholars flexibility in their approaches but sometimes making it challenging to delineate clear tenets that define TWAIL as a coherent scholarly tradition. In the context of developing cohesive methodologies for this discipline, "Third World" scholars have made great efforts to refine and implement a more inclusive framework. This Insight presents some progress achieved while highlighting the challenges encountered in different areas of international law across regions like Asia, Latin America, and Africa, where scholars have embraced TWAIL to reframe and advance the teaching of international law.

In July, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights released its Advisory Opinion on Climate Emergency and Human Rights. The findings of the Court establish a clear path on how states must address climate change under a human rights and environmental perspective.