Africa: Why has integration remained weak?

The 1980 Lagos (Nigeria) conference attended by African heads of states, recommended the creation of an African common market, with the objective of launching it in 2020. Each African region was asked to consolidate its own regional organization to support the creation of an African common market. The latter would eventually lead to the creation of an economic community of Africa, seen as a vector which would lead to a viable and sustainable solution to Africa's numerous economic problems. However African economic integration has remained weak. This paper from the Global Development Network asks why integration has not progressed and what the current perspectives for African countries in the confinement of the New Partnership for the Development of Africa (NPDA) are.