Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:13:38.837Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Right to Development Governance in the Advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2021

Carol Chi Ngang*
Affiliation:
Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa and National University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho

Abstract

In this article, I explore the question of whether the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could provide the framework mechanism for actualizing the right to development in Africa. The imperative for socio-economic and cultural development suggests rethinking the manner in which Africa is governed and, importantly, also the necessity of putting into place functional mechanisms in view of enacting the future that is envisaged for the continent. Article 22(2) of the African Charter enjoins state parties to individually or collectively undertake measures to give effect to the right to development. After several futile endeavours aimed at finding an appropriate mechanism for development, Africa eventually takes a giant stride in establishing the AfCFTA. From a decolonial perspective, I examine the prospects of the AfCFTA, particularly with regard to competing interests that dominate the African development space. At face value, the AfCFTA appears to provide an enabling framework for the nurturing of productive capabilities, the flourishing of local initiatives, the eradication of poverty and expanded opportunities for development. Notwithstanding, I contend that the inherently neoliberal nature of the AfCFTA leaves a further question of whether the free trade area is likely to deliver socio-economic and cultural development benefits to the peoples of Africa.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

LLD (University of Pretoria). Researcher, Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State; Senior Lecturer, National University of Lesotho.

References

1 United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 1990 (1990, Oxford University Press) at 3. After several decades of the exclusive understanding of development as aiming solely to achieve economic growth, and following the wave of democratization and demands for the respect of socio-economic and cultural rights that swept across the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the UNDP ignited a “rediscovering [of] the essential truth that people must be at the centre of all development”. The seminal report, which significantly shifted the parameters in the definition of development, highlights as the central message the fact that “while growth in national production (GDP) is absolutely necessary to meet essential human objectives, what is important is to study how this growth translates – or fails to translate – into human development in various societies”. With regard to Africa, Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 envisages “an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people”.

2 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted by the Organization of African Unity in Nairobi, Kenya on 27 June 1981, OAU Doc CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5; 1520 UNTS 217, arts 20, 21 and 22.

3 Cofelice, AAfrican Continental Free Trade Area: Opportunities and Challenges” (2018) 31/3 The Federalist Debate 32 at 3233CrossRefGoogle Scholar; B Mureverwi “Welfare decomposition of the Continental Free Trade Area” (19th Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Washington DC, 15–17 June 2016) at 5–7; Mevel, S and Karingi, STowards a continental free trade area in Africa: A CGE modelling assessment with a focus on agriculture” in Cheong, D, Jansen, M and Peters, R (eds) Shared Harvests: Agriculture, Trade, and Employment (2011, International Labour Office and United Nations) 281 at 282Google Scholar; R Akeyewale “Who are the winners and losers in Africa's Continental Free Trade area?” (17 October 2018) World Economic Forum, available at: <https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/africa-continental-free-trade-afcfta-sme-business/> (last accessed on 08 November 2019).

4 Bond, P Fanon's Warning: A Civil Society Reader on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (2005, Africa World Press) 33Google Scholar; Diamond, LPromoting real reform in Africa” in Gyimah-Boadi, E (ed) Democratic Reform in Africa: The Quality of Progress (2004, Lynne Rienner Publishers) 263Google Scholar at 277.

5 Kuhlmann, K and Agutu, ALThe African Continental Free Trade Area: Toward a new legal model for trade and development” (2020) 51/4 Georgetown Journal of International Law 753Google Scholar at 756.

6 Charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU Charter) adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1963, art 1(b).

7 See the preambles to the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights as well as art 12(1) of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

8 A Thomson An Introduction to African Politics (2010, 3rd ed, Routledge) at 191–94; G Williams “Why structural adjustment is necessary and why it doesn't work” (2007) 21/60 Review of African Political Economy 214 at 215; SM Kawewe and R Dibie “The impact of economic structural adjustment programs [ESAPs] on women and children: Implications for social welfare in Zimbabwe” (2000) 27/4 The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 79 at 79–85.

9 S Kamga and S Heleba “Can economic growth translate into access to rights?: Challenges faced by institutions in South Africa in ensuring that growth leads to better living standards” (2012) 9/17 SUR – International Journal on Human Rights 83 at 83–85; A Sengupta “The human right to development” (2004) 32/2 Oxford Development Studies 179 at 184–85; NJ Udombana “The third world and the right to development: Agenda for the next millennium” (2000) 22/3 Human Rights Quarterly 753 at 756.

10 OAU Charter, above at note 6, preamble.

11 Constitutive Act of the African Union adopted in Lomé, Togo on 11 July 2000, preamble and art 3(k).

12 DW Nabudere “The African renaissance in the age of globalization” (2001) 6/2 African Journal of Political Science 11 at 13; African Union Commission “Agenda 2063: The Africa we want” (2015) African Union, paras 59–63.

13 AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, id, para 61.

14 SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni “A continuing search for a new world order” (2015) 36/2 Australasian Review of African Studies 22 at 28; AA Mazrui The Africans: A Triple Heritage (1986, BBC Publications) at 12.

15 SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni “The imperative of decolonizing the modern westernized university” in SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni and S Zondi (eds) Decolonizing the University, Knowledge Systems and Disciplines in Africa (2016, Carolina Academic Press) 27 at 29.

16 J Mensah “Introduction: Neoliberalism and globalization in Africa” in J Mensah (ed) Neoliberalism and Globalization in Africa: Contestations from an Embattled Continent (2008, Palgrave-Macmillan) 1 at 1–4; LS Lushaba “Development as modernity, modernity as development” (2006) (African Studies Centre Leiden, The Netherlands ASC Working Paper no 69); G Caffentzis “Neoliberalism in Africa, apocalyptic failures and business as usual practices” (2002) 1/2 Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations 89 at 89–102.

17 CC Ngang “Differentiated responsibilities under international law and the right to development paradigm for developing countries” (2017) 11/2 Human Rights & International Legal Discourse 265 at 270–81.

18 Ndlovu-Gatsheni “A continuing search for a new world order”, above at note 14 at 22–50.

19 AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 10.

20 Id, para 11 and paras 47–49.

21 Id, para 70.

22 PM Neo Maseko “Transformative praxis through critical consciousness: A conceptual exploration of a decolonial access with success agenda” (2018) 7 Educational Research for Social Change 78 at 79.

23 K Ayenagbo et al “The impact of globalization on African countries economic development” (2012) 6/44 African Journal of Business Management 11057–76; JK Sundaram et al “Globalization and development in sub-Saharan Africa” (2011) (DESA Working Paper No 102).

24 W Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1973, Tanzanian Publishing House).

25 DW Nabudere “The African renaissance in the age of globalization”, above at note 12 at 13.

26 M Dean Governmentality, Power and Rule of Law in Modern Society (2010, 2nd ed, SAGE Publications) at 19.

27 AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 61.

28 M wa Mutua “Why redraw the map of Africa: A moral and legal inquiry” (1994) 16 Michigan Journal of International Law at 1113.

29 JA Alonso, J Glennie and A Sumner “Recipients and contributors: Middle income countries and the future of development cooperation” (2014) (DESA Working Paper No 135) at 5; Udombana “The third world and the right to development”, above at note 9 at 755.

30 See Declaration on the Right to Development Resolution A/RES/41/128 adopted by the UN General Assembly on 4 December 1986, art 2(3); African Charter, art 22(1).

31 UN Human Rights “Frequently asked questions on the right to development: Fact sheet no 37” (2016) at 2.

32 SAD Kamga “The right to development in the African human rights system: The Endorois case” (2011) 44/2 De Jure 381 at 386.

33 Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) & Minority Rights Group International on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v Kenya Comm 276/2003 (2009) AHRLR 75 (ACHPR 2009), paras 269–98; Democratic Republic of Congo v Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda (2009) AHRLR 9 (ACHPR 2009), para 95; Sudan Human Rights Organisation & another v Sudan (2009) AHRLR 153 (ACHPR 2009), para 224.

34 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v Republic of Kenya (2017) Appl No 006/2017, paras 202–11.

35 R Kiwanuka “The meaning of ‘people’ in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights” (1998) 82/1 The American Journal of International Law 80 at 82–88.

36 CC Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance in Africa” (2018) 17/1 Journal of Human Rights 107 at 114–18; OO Oduwole “International law and the right to development: A pragmatic approach for Africa” (2014) International Institute of Social Studies 1 at 8; P Oyugi “The right to development in Africa: Lessons from China” in CC Ngang, SD Kamga and V Gumede (eds) Perspectives on the Right to Development (2018, Pretoria University Law Press) at 284–307; WP Nagan “The right to development and the importance of human and social capital as human rights issues” (2013) 1 Cadmus 1 at 30; I Slaus and G Jacobs “In search of a new paradigm for global development” (2013) 1 Cadmus 1–3; UN Human Rights Realizing the Right to Development: Essays in Commemorating 25 Years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development (2013, United Nations Publication) at 495.

37 B Gawanas “The African Union: Concepts and implementation mechanisms relating to human rights” in A Bosl and J Diescho (eds) Human Rights in Africa: Legal Perspectives on Their Protection and Promotion (2009, Macmillan Namibia) at 145.

38 D Olowu An Integrative Rights-Based Approach to Human Development in Africa (2009, Pretoria University Law Press) at 289.

39 The Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights UN Document E/CN.4/1987/17 adopted in Maastricht on 2–6 June 1986, para 14.

40 African Charter, arts 20(1), 21(1) and 22(1); AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 74(e).

41 UNDP Human Development Report 1990, above at note 1 at 10; S Fukuda-Parr “The human development paradigm: Operationalizing Sen's ideas on capabilities” (2003) 9/2–3 Feminist Economics 301 at 303.

42 CC Ngang “Systems problem and a pragmatic insight into the right to development governance for Africa” (2019) 19/1 African Human Rights Law Journal 365 at 387–93; Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance in Africa”, above at note 36 at 116; Ngang “Differentiated responsibilities under international law”, above at note 17 at 278–80.

43 AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 74(e) and paras 47–49.

44 Id, paras 40–46.

45 SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni and S Zondi “Introduction: The coloniality of knowledge: between troubled histories and uncertain futures” in SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni and S Zondi (eds) Decolonizing the University, Knowledge Systems and Disciplines in Africa (2016, Carolina Academic Press) 3 at 3–14; T Sithole “A decolonial critique of multi-inter-transdiciplinary (MIT) methodology” in SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni and S Zondi (eds) Decolonizing the University, Knowledge Systems and Disciplines in Africa (2016, Carolina Academic Press) 107 at 118–21; SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni “Global coloniality and the challenges of creating African futures” (2014) 36/2 Strategic Review for Southern Africa 181.

46 SP Marks “The human rights framework for development: Seven approaches” (2003) François-Xavier Bagnoud Centre for Health and Human Rights at 12.

47 African Charter, art 22; African Youth Charter adopted in Banjul, the Gambia on 2 July 2006, art 10; Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa adopted in Maputo, Mozambique on 11 July 2003, art 19; African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (revised) adopted on 11 July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique, art 3(2); the constitutions of Cameroon, Malawi, the DRC explicitly enshrine the right to development.

48 Yu Keping “Governance and good governance: A new framework for political analysis” (2018) 11 Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences at 2.

49 Dean Governmentality, above at note 26 at 24.

50 Id at 18.

51 N Rose, P O'Malley and M Valverde “Governmentality” (2009) (Sydney Law School – Legal Studies Research Paper 09/94) at 3.

52 Ibid.

53 R Huff “Governmentality: Political science” Encyclopaedia Britannica available at: <https://www.britannica.com/topic/governmentality> (last accessed on 20 March 2020).

54 Olowu, above at note 38 at 288.

55 AU Constitutive Act, above at note 11, art 3(g); AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, paras 27 and 35; African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 January 2007, art 2(6); AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption adopted on 11 July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique, art 3(1); HA Wani and A Suwirta “Changing dynamics of good governance in Africa” (2015) 7/2 International Journal for Educational Studies 189 at 189–202.

56 Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance in Africa”, above at note 36 at 116; D Gaoussou and P Plane “The World Bank and the genesis of the ‘good governance’ concept” (2012) 40/2 Mondes en Développement 51 at 51–52; N Maldonado “The World Bank's evolving concept of good governance and its impact on human rights” (paper presented at the Doctoral Workshop on Development and International Organisations, Stockholm, Sweden in May 2010), available at: <https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/researchcentres/csgr/news/doctoral_workshop_on/final_maldonado_nicole_paper.doc> (last accessed on 7 September 2020).

57 P Utomi “Africa needs a new approach to development” (3 May 2017) Mail & Guardian, available at: <https://mg.co.za//2017-05-02-africa-needs-a-new-approach-to-development> (last accessed on 7 July 2019).

58 K M'baye “Le droit au développement comme un droit de l'homme” (1972) 5 Revue des Droits de l'Homme 503 at 513.

59 Declaration on the Right to Development, above at note 30, art 2(3).

60 African Charter, arts 1 and 22(2).

61 Ngang “Systems problem”, above at note 42 at 387–93; Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance in Africa”, above at note 36 at 116; Ngang “Differentiated responsibilities under international law, above at note 17 at 278–80. For other accounts on the right to development as a development paradigm, see B Ibhawoh “The right to development: The politics and polemics of power and resistance” (2011) 33/1 Human Rights Quarterly 76 at 103; A Sengupta “On the theory and practice of the right to development” (2002) 24/4 Human Rights Quarterly 837 at 846; UN Human Rights Realizing the Right to Development, above at note 36 at 495; Nagan “The right to development”, above at note 36 at 30; Udombana “The third world and the right to development”, above at note 9 at 762.

62 AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 76.

63 Id, paras 19, 27 and 35, 74(b) and 74(c).

64 African Charter, preamble para 8 and art 22.

65 Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance”, above at note 36 at 114–16. The right-to-development governance is anchored on four conceptual principles, namely: effective people participation; liberty in the making of development choices; advancement of human capabilities for the sustainable management of the continent's wealth of natural resources; and recognition of the African identity and value systems within a legal framework that guarantees genuine accountability and equitable (re)distribution for the improved collective well-being of the African peoples.

66 African Charter, preamble para 8 and art 22.

67 For example, the Endorois case, Centre for Minority Rights Development v Kenya above at note 33, paras 269–98; Ogiek community land rights case, ACtHPR v Republic of Kenya, above at note 34, paras 201–17. In these cases, the African Commission found the government of Kenya in violation of the right to development of the indigenous communities in question.

68 F Fukuyama “What is governance?” (2013) (Center for Global Development – CGD Working Paper no 314) at 34.

69 Ngang “Systems problem”, above at note 42 at 377–87.

70 CC Ngang “Right to development in Africa and the common heritage entitlement” (2020) 45/1 Journal for Juridical Science 28 at 41–42; Ngang “Towards a right-to-development governance”, above at note 36 at 115.

71 UNDP Human Development Report 1990, above at note 1 at 9–16; A Sen Development as Freedom (1999, Oxford University Press) at 87–95; M Nussbaum Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (2011, Harvard University Press) at 43 and 33–34.

72 UNDP Human Development Report 1990, above at note 1 at iii.

73 T Lemke Foucault's Analysis of Modern Governmentality: A Critique of Political Reason (trans by E. Butler, 2019, Verso) at 70.

74 Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area adopted by the AU at the 10th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda on 21 March 2018, AU Doc TI21086_E, arts 2 and 3(a).

75 CC Ajibo “African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: The euphoria, pitfalls and prospects” (2019) 53/3 Journal of World Trade 871 at 872; Cofelice “African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 32; D Mumbere “AfCFTA Agreement to be Implemented after Gambia's Historic Ratification” (3 April 2019) AfricaNews, available at: <https://www.africanews.com/2019/04/03/afcfta-agreement-to-be-implemented-following-gambia-s-historic-ratification//> (last accessed on 25 April 2019).

76 Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947), para 8(b); see also UN Economic Commission for Africa “African Continental Free Trade Area: Policy and Negotiation Options for Trade in Goods” (2016) United Nations UNCTAD/WEB/DITC/2016/7 at 4.

77 RY Simo “Trade in services in the African continental free trade area: Prospects, challenges and WTO compatibility” (2020) 23/1 Journal of International Economic Law 65.

78 S Sako and G Ogiogio “Africa: Major development challenges and their capacity building dimensions” (2002) (The African Capacity Building Foundation – Occasional Paper no 1) at 3–14.

79 Trade Law Centre “The African Continental Free Trade Area” A TRALAC Guide, 6th ed, November 2019, available at: <https://www.tralac.org/documents/resources/booklets/3028-afcfta-a-tralac-guide-6th-edition-november-2019/file.html> (last accessed on 7 September 2020) at 2 and 6; AU Commission “Agenda 2063”, above at note 12, para 72(h).

80 Kuhlmann and Agutu “The African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 5 at 763.

81 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung “Building a sustainable and inclusive continental free trade area: Nine priority recommendations from a human rights perspective” (2017) UNECA-TES Policy Brief at 1.

82 T Van Lennep “The African Continental Free Trade Area III: Is Africa ready?” (2019) Helen Suzman Foundation available at: <https://hsf.org.za/publications/hsf-briefs/the-african-continental-free-trade-area-iii-2013-is-africa-ready> (last accessed on 26 April 2019) at 5.

83 Mureverwi “Welfare decomposition of the Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 5–6.

84 D Luke ‘Making the case for the African Continental Free Trade Area’ in D Luke and J Macleod (eds) Inclusive Trade in Africa: The African Continental Free Trade Area in Comparative Perspective (2019, Routledge) at 5–12.

85 Declaration on the Right to Development, above at note 30, art 1(2); African Charter, art 22(1).

86 In a press statement in April 2019, former US Deputy Secretary of State for Africa, Nagy Tibor, observed that “Africa is an incredibly, incredibly rich continent and it seems, so far it has been incredibly rich for colonial powers, for the governments in place; it has not been rich for the peoples who live there”.

87 Cofelice “African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 32.

88 Id at 32–33.

89 Mevel and Karingi “Towards a continental free trade area in Africa”, above at note 3 at 283.

90 Ajibo, above at note 75 at 891.

91 While trade can indeed contribute to raising living standards, there is no guarantee that it necessarily does. For example, Nigeria and South Africa are the largest market economies in Africa, but the same time, both countries have the largest number of impoverished people on the continent, according to the World Bank estimates: 83 million (40% of the population of Nigeria) and 30.3 million (55.5% of the population of South Africa), indicating that trade does not directly translate into improved well-being for the entire population.

92 Mureverwi “Welfare decomposition of the Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 15.

93 South African Institute of International Affairs “Understanding the Agreement on African Continental Free Trade Area: Considerations for Korean firms” (2020) Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 16 available at: <https://saiia.org.za/research/understanding-the-african-continental-free-trade-agreement/> (last accessed on 2 December 2020).

94 Cofelice “African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 34; UNECA and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung “Building a sustainable”, above at note 81 at 1–8.

95 UNECA and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung “Building a sustainable”, above at note 81 at 10–18.

96 L Abrego et al “The African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Welfare gains estimates from a general equilibrium model” (2019) (IMF Working Paper WP/19/124) at 19–23; J Cazares “The African Continental Free Trade Area: Benefits, costs and implications” Infomineo available at: <https://infomineo.com/africa-continental-free-trade-area/> (last accessed on 31 March 2020); Cofelice “African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 32–33.

97 CC Ngang “Complexity in balancing the pursuit of FDI with the obligation to achieve the right to development in Africa: A focus on China–Africa relations” in CC Ngang and SD Kamga (eds) Insights into Policies and Practices on the Right to Development (2020, Rowman and Littlefield International) 267 at 277–79.

98 M Busse, C Erdogan and H Mulhen “China's impact on Africa: The role of trade and FDI” (2014) (Ruhr-University Institute of Development Research and Development Policy Working Paper vol 206) at 4–8; J Kamwanga and G Koyi “Impact of China–Africa investment relations: The case of Zambia” (2009) Policy Brief at 1–5; A Were “Debt trap? Chinese loans and Africa's development options” (2008) South Africa Institute of International Affairs – Policy Insights 66 at 6–7; Ngang “Complexity in balancing the pursuit of FDI”, above at note 97 at 274–79.

99 G Martin “The historical, economic, and political bases of France's African policy” (1985) 32/2 The Journal of Modern African Studies at 189–208; FX Verschave La Françafrique: Le Plus Long Scandale de la République (1998, Stock).

100 Amuwo, KFrance and the economic integration project in Francophone Africa” (1999) 4/1 African Journal of Political Science 1 at 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rousselot, JThe impact of French influence on democracy and human rights in Cameroon” (2010) 4/1 Cameroon Journal on Democracy and Human Rights 59Google Scholar; Martin, GThe Franc Zone, underdevelopment and dependency in francophone Africa” (1986) 8/1 Third World Quarterly 205CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

101 Mati, S, Civcir, I and Ozdeser, HECOWAS common currency: How prepared are its members?” (2019) 78/308 Investigación Económica 89 at 9092CrossRefGoogle Scholar; A Salaudeen “West African countries choose new ‘ECO’ single trade currency” (9 July 2019) CNN, available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/01/africa/single-trade-currency-ecowas/index.html (last accessed on 12 July 2020); L Dewast “West Africa's Eco: What difference would a single currency make?” BBC Africa (Dakar) available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48882030> (last accessed on 6 July 2019).

102 E Smith “West Africa's new “eco” currency sparks division over timetable and euro peg” (17 Jan 2020) CNBC, available at: <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/west-african-eco-currency-sparks-division-over-timetable-and-euro-peg.html> (last accessed on 31 March 2020); AM Gbenga “Political undertones in moves to adopt ECO by francophone West Africa” (21 Jan 2020) Ventures, available at: <http://venturesafrica.com/political-undertones-in-move-to-adopt-eco-by-francophone-west-africa/> (last accessed on 31 March 2020).

103 Kamga, GEKEmpty currency and the mechanics of underdevelopment within the Franc zone” (2020) 45/1 Journal for Juridical Science 120CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 139.

104 Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) & another v Nigeria Comm 155/96 (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001).

105 Id, para 70.

106 Ken Saro-Wiwa and others v Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Corporation 2009 WL 1574869 (S.D.N.Y. 23 April 2009); The Guardian “Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing” (9 June 2009) The Guardian, available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/08/nigeria-usa> (last accessed on 5 April 2020).

107 Lungowe & others v Vedanta Resources PLC and another [2019] UKSC 2 UKSC 2017/0185, paras 77–96.

108 Lungowe & others v Vedanta Resources, para 1; EN Chegwe “Case review: Vedanta Resources PLC & another v Lungowe & others” (2019) National Open University of Nigeria at 7.

109 Lungowe & others v Vedanta Resources, para 84.

110 African Union Commission Economic Affairs Department Draft Pan-African Investment Code, December 2016, art 1.

111 Akeyewale “Who are the winners and losers …?”, above at note 3.

112 Van Lennep “The African Continental Free Trade Area III”, above at note 82 at 5.

113 Cofelice “African Continental Free Trade Area”, above at note 3 at 33.

114 CC Ngang “Systems problem”, above at note 42 at 387–92.