The role of international remittances in the social and economic development of the West African Countries 1960-2000

With rapid population growth, migration in West Africa has been increasing drastically over the past decades. Migration has also become eminent because of the history of this continent with colonialism and its subsequent colonial ties in the diaspora. This paper finds that remittances, which are stable private transfers, have a direct poverty-mitigating effect and have the potential to promote financial development. This research focuses on West Africa, and it holds that if transfer channels are well put in place by both sending and receiving countries and sending rates are reduced with the cooperation of states and institutions to the barest minimum, senders would be encouraged to send through these channels, and remittances would stand a chance to be totally accounted for. And only then would the impact it has on economic growth and development be measured with accuracy for research purposes. The research also focuses on the available channels of transfer that can be utilised as well as bodies that can be instituted in this region to further aid our understanding of the opportunities available in terms of remittances. These findings holds that there is a direct link between remittances and households’ standard of living however, after factoring in the interconnectedness between remittances, poverty, and financial development, there are blurred lines that exist and are encountered by researchers to measure with the help of institutions and ascertain using the right tools what these links foretell. Reducing rates of sending money to West Africa is part of the solution to formalizing remittances and can serve as an effective way to “bank the unbanked” individuals and households, and create unified systems that account for remittances efficiently. Notwithstanding, remittances have a future to propel development in this region.