African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM): A Building Block for Pan-Africanism

Abstract The crave for solidarity and cooperation among African states is dated back to the pre-independent era when some African nationalists, ravished with the quest of freedom from the clutches of colonialism, enliven pan-Africanism interest especially after the end of the Second World War. Following the political independence of some African states in early 1960s, the philosophy of Pan-Africanism inspired the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the major driver of continental integration and unity among the newly independent African countries. Over the years, several institutions have been established and/or transformed in a bid to realise the vision of pan Africanism. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is one of such institutions. The APRM is a voluntary arrangements among African nations to evaluate and review the performance of a state by other states with the aim of promoting best practices, generating economic growth, encouraging good governance and ensuring political stability which would eventually culminate in sub-regional and continental integration. This study, which set out to access the performance of APRM over the years found that the institutions has been experiencing a serious slow-down in its performance since its establishment, due to lack of commitment to it by the leaders of African states and the primordial values and culture of African states. The research however observed that if well implemented, APRM could be a veritable avenue to improve governance, guarantee standards and best practices, generate high economic growth and accelerate sub-regional and continental economic and political integration which is also the dream of pan-Africanists.