Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 4 African sub-region(being the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Gambia and Sierra Leone). It is essential for one to note that the Gold Coast began life as part of the integrated British possessions in West Africa with its headquarters in Sierra Leone. The integration of British territories within West Africa was spearheaded by Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford(also known as Ekra-Agiman, a Fante journalist, author, lawyer, educator and politician who believed in Pan-Africanism), with the backing of giants of the Pan-African Movement such as Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois. The inaugural meeting of the National Congress of British West African States(NCBWA) was convened in Accra by Casely Hayford in 1920, with the sole objective of creating a platform through which the intellectuals and elites of British West Africa would bring before the British government for redress, the wants and aspirations of the people. It was hoped that this Congress was going to create a long term platform for the attainment of self government through a constitutional process and integrate British West Africa. Some of the outcomes of their first and subsequent meetings, included the demand for the election of African representatives to the Municipal and Legislative Councils; cessation of the exercise of judicial functions by untrained public servants; the opening up of the Civil Service to Africans; the establishment of a British West African University and the institution of compulsory education for all. Sadly, this movement died with the death of Casely Hayford in 1930. 4 It could be said that, Britain, upon realising the colossal benefits of regional integration to them, implemented strategies that caused regional integration to gain some impetus in the pre-independence era through the establishment of a common currency and some common services in British colonies in West Africa. Additionally, common agricultural research institutes were set up for the cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, timber and groundnuts. Furthermore, the four colonies were linked with a common airline company. These integration measures facilitated easy economic activities. However, compared to the French colonies, these efforts were minimal as it eschewed political integration. The French colonial administration established a higher level of political organisation by grouping their thirteen colonies in Africa into two federations namely the French West Africa and French Equatorial African Federations. A review of the literature leads to conclusion that the French federations had a solid political and administrative base but porous economic foundation. Thus, their founding fathers upon independence had the challenging task of making them economically viable. 5 As established by Adebayo Adedeji(2002), separatism and irredentism were latent throughout the colonial era, a situation which facilitated the ease with which the 4 Eluwa, G. I. C., Background to the Emergence of the National Congress of British West Africa, African Studies Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1971, pp. 205-218. 5 Adebayo Adedeji, op. cit., 2002