Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, Gabby Otchere-Darko, has urged African leaders to make removing visa restrictions between African countries a priority, arguing it would open up more economic opportunities and jobs across the continent.
He argued that Africa’s 55 economies remain too small and fragmented individually to create the scale of opportunities needed, especially for its young population.
“It has to be done because our economies are too small to remain fragmented and to deliver the jobs and opportunities that we need. We’re too small,” he said.
According to him, the continent has debated free movement since 1963 without acting on it, and it is time for African countries to move past discussion into implementation.
Citing ECOWAS as proof, he said, fears often raised about free movement do not hold up in practice, pointing to how relatively unrestricted movement among member states has boosted trade within the sub-region.
“Those of us in West Africa, we are familiar with free movement because within ECOWAS, we have free movement, and we’ve seen that it has contributed positively to transactions, facilitating transactions within our region,” he said.
He added that while some level of checks would still be necessary, West Africa’s experience shows “that the fears about free movement is not borne out by the practice, as we’ve seen in West Africa.”
Mr Otchere-Darko also took aim at the continued fragmentation of African economies along colonial-era borders, saying countries should work to expand economic activity across those boundaries instead.
“Fifty-five economies, still structured within, by and large, the boundaries that were set by colonialism,” he said.
