##visages that monetary cooperation, which would bring about macroeconomic convergence at sub - regional levels would serve as building blocks for the future african central bank. toward realisation of this goal, the aacb has developed an african monetary cooperation programme ( amcp ) with stipulated convergence criteria, for implementation in the continent. the amcp is sub - divided into six stages, beginning from the year 2002 to 2021, during which period all preparatory processes for introduction of a single african currency and african central bank would have been completed. i thank you for your attention.

1999 however, it was generally observed that the pace of implementation of the emcp, especially the establishment of the single monetary zone, had not matched the expectations of the founding fathers. some perceived major obstacles to successful implementation of the programme included : lack of political will and commitment ; non - uniformity in the adoption of required macroeconomic framework and lack of policy coordination and harmonization between the francophone west african countries, with the exception of the republic of guinea, which established an economic and monetary union ( union economique et monetaire ouest africaine - uemoa in 1994 ) and the anglophone countries. the recognition of this problem necessitated the authority of heads of state and government of ecowas, at its 22nd summit in lome, togo, in december 1999 to adopt a strategy of a two - track fast - track approach, to the implementation of the emcp. following the initiative of nigeria and ghana, consultations were held with the governments of the gambia, guinea, liberia, and sierra leone, and at a summit of the heads of state of the six countries, in accra, ghana, in april 2000, the accra declaration on the creation of the second monetary zone was signed. the authorities of these countries committed themselves to the introduction of a single currency and the establishment of a common central bank by the year 2003 for eventual merger with the uemoa zone by the year 2004 under the aegis of the ecowas integration programme. at the second summit in bamako, mali in december, 2000, the authorities formally launched and established the second monetary zone as the west african monetary zone ( wamz ) and approved a set of convergence criteria to be attained by member states before the commencement of the monetary union. the west african monetary institute ( wami ) was also established to undertake all the preparatory work for the introduction of the single currency, and a common central bank in the wamz. wami was also to study and make proposals on how to address issues of monetary policy, financial sector surveillance, currency and external reserves management as well as legal framework and institutional arrangement associated with eventual establishment of the west african central bank. the west african monetary zone ( wamz ) institutions of the wamz six institutions, including wami, have been created under the wamz agreement to facilitate arrangements for eventual introduction of the single currency and establishment of a common central bank in the zone. these are : ( i ) the authority of heads of states and