Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 102 Ghanaian musicians and actors and colleagues from other West African countries particularly Nigeria and Togo. 127 It is widely reported that the Nigerian Movie industry exports about one thousand films to West Africa every year. A significant number of such exports end up in Ghana. Considering the key role the youth play in these ventures, it is essential for such arrangements to be encouraged. In 2008 for instance, a delegation from the Republic of Togo were in Accra to obtain first hand information on the planning and Execution of“Ghana's Most Beautiful” a competitive show organised by Tv3, a private media house, and aimed at unearthing beauty with the knowledge of culture of the people. Considering the age spread of the contestants and the significantly youthful viewership, such programmes can be considered as a youth programme. Thus, such visits can lead to the development of similar youth programmes across the sub-region, a process that can spill over to other areas of the entertainment industry and others. This can eventually contribute to the acceleration of regional integration. Beyond the above, the contribution of the youth and youth organisations to accelerating the pace of West African integration will be enhanced with the effective implementation of some community decisions and protocols. While this may be a case of“the egg or chick – which comes first”, the fact still remains that some difficulties in implementing community decisions act against activities that would have deepened the participation of the youth in sub-regional integration. An example is the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and Persons. Its existence notwithstanding, almost all states continue to maintain a number of checkpoints along the international roads. While it is important to guard against potential abuse of the Protocol by criminals, a good number of officials at these checkpoints engage in acts of extortion and administrative harassment 128 and thus frustrate users of such roads. Such practices could dissuade not just traders but ordinary citizens including the youth and youth organisations who may have wished to take advantage of the freedom of movement to learn about other countries and people within the sub-region. Thus, by facilitating the implementation of sub­regional decisions, Government will be laying the foundation, critical for the acceleration of regional integration by all stakeholders, including the youth. Another militating factor relates to the issue of funding. In spite of the utterances to the contrary, the issue of sub-regional integration has received relatively marginal attention when funds from the national budget are concerned. In 2002 for instance, the Government established the Ministry of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD ostensibly to champion the challenges of regional integration in West Africa. Prior to 127 Artistes such as Nana Kweku Dua(TicTac) and Bice Osei-Kuffuor(Obuor) are in the vanguard of such West African collaboration. 128 Asante S.K.B Op. Cit. p.72