I, nearing arrangement with a West African (8)
I believe the answer is:
nigerian
'a west african' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i nearing arrangement' is the wordplay.
'arrangement' is an anagram indicator.
'i'+'nearing'='inearing'
'inearing' anagrammed gives 'NIGERIAN'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for nigerian that I've seen before include "Native of Lagos" , "One from Lagos" , "West African" , "Native of republic in West Africa" , "In gear in an odd African way" .)