The recent West African Economic Summit (WAES) held in Abuja threw up a lot of ideas targeted at boosting inter-countries trade within the West African sub-region through the elimination of barriers. In this report, BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, Abuja Bureau Chief, writes that the implementation of such ideas will determine the future of trade cooperation among countries in the sub-region.
The recent West African Economic Summit (WAES) held in Abuja ended with the regional leaders committing to the implementation of policies aimed at enhancing integration and eliminating trade barriers.
Fortunately, the summit, which was in its maiden edition, coincided with the 54th Session of the Mediation and Security Council at the Ministerial Level, 94th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the 67th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
This opportunity, no doubt, provided broader perspectives on how to surmount the numerous challenges confronting the region and African continent. At the two-day summit, which held between June 20 and 21, policymakers, private sector players as well as development partners decried the socio-political and economic challenges confronting West Africa and brainstormed on the way forward, which include a need to deepen economic cooperation and tenaciously sustain regional integration.
Although saddened by the vacuum created by exit of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, the summit was described as a “platform of purpose, where policy meets enterprise, where leadership engages innovation and where West Africa speaks with one voice on the promise of regional integration.”
The region has faced series of challenges in implementing several key policies in the past, especially with regards to trade liberalisation, free movement of people and goods and establishment of a single currency. The mood at the summit indicated a willingness to address these challenges head-on.
With regards to trade, inter-countries trade frustration was buttressed by participants, including the President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon.
Noting that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ought to have become a model of integration by now, Talon blamed the region’s disintegration and stunted development on administrative bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
“From the West African Gas Pipeline to the West African Power Pool, the failures are costing us time, resources and development,” he lamented. He regretted that due to delays in the regional gas network, his country currently source gas from Qatar through a floating regasification facility. He also decried the perennial harassment and delays suffered by traders along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
According to Talon, “integration is not real if a businessman needs days and bribes to travel a few 100 kilometres.” He also identified poverty as a major threat to regional peace and democracy, insisting that without economic integration, democracy and liberty may not thrive.
To demonstrate their readiness to match words with action as a pointer to their commitment, Nigeria and Republic of Benin signed an agreement to deepen bilateral integration.
While Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, signed on behalf of Nigeria; Benin’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Shadiya Alimatou Assouman and his Foreign Ministry’s counterpart, Shegun Adjadi Bakari, signed for Benin.
“The responsibility now lies with our ministers to implement the agreement. Benin and Nigeria are more than twins; we are the same people. Let us show the region that integration is possible,” Talon stated.
Other presidents present or represented gave their nods to a new ECOWAS spirit.
In his remarks, President Joseph Boakai of Liberia described the summit as ‘timely and strategic’, reaffirming his country’s readiness to join other members of the regional bloc in tackling trade barriers and policies’ harmonisation.
For President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, who just took over the leadership of Authority of Heads of State from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria, there was a need for accelerated efforts towards trade and monetary integration.
He also expressed worries over the mounting pressures of public debt, food insecurity, climate risks and geo-political uncertainty. He said: “To unlock our region’s economic potential, we need political will and coordinated action. We must implement initiatives such as the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Project and the Common External Tariff.”
Bio particularly raised the issue of lingering single currency, stressing that it would “reduce exchange costs, support price stability and enhance regional trade.”
President Tinubu, while declaring the summit open, tasked regional governments to implement market-friendly policies that would foster economic integration while the private sector drives the growth.
“Our task is to find new and effective ways to invest in our collective future, improve the business climate and create opportunities for our youth and women.
“Let us emerge from this summit with actionable outcomes, a renewed commitment to the ease of doing business, enhanced inter-regional trade, improved infrastructure connectivity and innovative ideas that move our people from poverty to prosperity.”
Decrying the low intra-regional trade, President Tinubu noted that richness in opportunities alone will not guarantee transformation, adding that the region must earn it through fusion, policy coherence and capital alignment.
“That inter-regional trade remains under 10 per cent is a challenge you can no longer ignore. This is not due to a failure of will but a failure of coordination. Rather than relying on external partners, we must strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure and coordinate our policies,” Tinubu said.
In her keynote, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, called for the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which she identified as limiting intra-African trade and stifling it to less than 10 per cent of the region’s total trade. For her, the solution lies in the ability to work together with purpose and clarity.
“Breaking down the tariff and non-tariff barriers that continue to choke the movement of goods, services and people, intra-African trade accounts for under 20 per cent of Africa’s total trade, compared to 58 per cent in Asia and 67 per cent in Europe.”
She noted that in West Africa specifically, trade among countries remained under 10 per cent despite shared borders, language clusters, decades of integration efforts and initiatives such as the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and the Common External Tariff (CET) both of which are key instruments for regional economic integration.
According to her, truly integrated West African marketplace is due and the major gateway is integration.
“The time for a truly integrated West African marketplace is now. With a population of over 400 million people and a shared history of enterprise and resilience, West Africa holds enormous untapped potential.
“Yet, we must acknowledge a fundamental truth. Our businesses cannot scale if our markets remain fragmented. While acknowledging the modest gains of ETLS and CET, much is still desired to enhance regional trade among our countries. The vision of one market is not simply an ideal, it is a necessity,” she said.
To achieve a unified market, Oduwole identified harmonisation of product standards, alignment of customs procedures and investment in digital platforms to facilitate seamless trade.
“Today, West African businesses, especially Micro, Small and Medium-size Enterprises (MSMEs), still face high costs at the border, inconsistent duties and bureaucracy, especially on goods that do not qualify under the ETLS. These obstacles make it even more attractive to trade globally than with our own neighbours,” she noted.
For Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, the summit was aimed at “resetting the vision of the economic future of the region.” Describing it as an ambitious target, he identified‘enabling environment’ as a necessity.
“As an economic community, we enjoy freedom of movement and a framework to facilitate trade, pool electricity and integrate transport corridors. Our job today therefore is to build on what we have, and find new ways that add momentum to the search for peace and stability, prosperity and growth.”
Frowning that out of the region’s $166 billion export in 2024, only 8.6 per cent remained within West Africa, Tuggar described the trajectory as untenable, blaming it not only on capacity but also on poor orientation.
“Imports follow the same pattern – heavily tilted toward partners outside the continent. Machinery and manufactured goods from China, India, the United States and Europe, dominate our import flows while we continue to export unprocessed raw materials,” he added.
Appraising the outcome of the summit, a Professor of International Economic Relations, Jonathan Aremu, held that effective economic integration is not done in a rush.
According to him, many West African countries could not effectively domesticate or implement some of the regional policies due to lack of knowledge on the existence of trade opportunities.
“So, it is not about condemning what is happening but to appreciate that this will take time. At the same time, each of the countries and their respective governments must ensure substantial sensitisation on how to trade in goods and in services.
“Beyond that, they should equally know that the right of establishment, in which they can set up their companies across to other African countries, is available now. Unfortunately, people are not actually exploring it,” Aremu said.
The Executive Director, Africa International Trade and Commerce Research (AITCR), Sand Mba Kalu, in his contribution, admitted that most trade agreements within the region and African continent at large are poorly implemented, basically due to ignorance.
Citing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Kalu blamed institutional gap, poor stakeholders’ engagement and lack of good knowledge of the agreements by stakeholders and coordinators.
“The problem hinges on inability to formulate policies that will bridge the gap of who takes responsibility in terms of implementation – who takes responsibility in terms of coordination and who takes responsibility in terms of stakeholders’ engagement. Without strategic investment and intervention, things will not work as expected,” he noted. Kalu expressed worries that till now, most African countries have not updated their policies to align with the AfCFTA agreement.
“That is the reason trade within Africa is still low. Most African countries have weak national implementation framework,” he said. He also blamed poor custom infrastructure, inefficiency, corruption, lack of awareness of what AfCFT is as part of the problem.
“Production capacity is another thing; ignorance of the terms and letters of AfCFTA leads to lack of non-tariff barriers.” To strengthen implementation of the trade policies, Kalu called for border efficiency and capacity building for stakeholders.
“AfCFTA is here to overhaul what we currently have but most African countries are slow to respond to it. I believe that if they create more awareness, make domestication easier, improve border control and digitalise Customs process, things will get better,” he added.
To eliminate trade barriers hindering regional trade, a Professor of Accounting and Financial Development at Lead City University, Ibadan, Godwin Oyedokun, called for the implementation of key strategies.
He expressed the need for infrastructure development, including transportation and logistics infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports, stressing that they are crucial in improving connectivity and reducing costs associated with moving goods.
He also believes that simplifying and harmonising Customs procedures across countries can reduce delays and costs. This, he said, include adopting technology for efficient customs clearance processes.
“Addressing non-tariff barriers such as import quotas and complex regulations can facilitate easier access to markets for African goods. Also, supporting local production and industries can enhance competitiveness, reduce dependence on imports and encourage trade among African countries,” he said.
Oyedokun blamed policy inconsistency partly on poor trade in the region and admonished that stable and predictable trade policies can build trust among trading partners and encourage long-term investments in trade.
