Africa’s single market vision risks becoming a political ambition without economic substance unless governments urgently remove the trade barriers, border bottlenecks and bureaucratic inefficiencies still choking the continent’s commerce.
That warning came from Issoufou Mahamadou, former President of Niger and the African Union’s (AU) champion for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), speaking at the Biashara Afrika 2026 forum. He called on African governments to move faster and more decisively in implementing the agreement, whose secretariat is headquartered in Accra.
Mahamadou argued that Africa cannot build a competitive, innovation-driven economy while non-tariff barriers continue to slow cargo movement, inflate the cost of doing business and fragment trade flows across borders. Trucks stranded at checkpoints, businesses buried under layers of regulation and cargo trapped by inconsistent customs procedures, he said, represent the gap between AfCFTA’s promise and its present reality.
He described the AfCFTA as central to achieving the AU’s Agenda 2063 vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent led by its own citizens, and stressed that transforming Africa from a raw material exporter into a manufacturing, innovation and value addition hub depended on the agreement’s full and effective implementation.
The former president pointed to stronger regional value chains, supported by technology, knowledge transfer and innovation, as the foundation of Africa’s long-term competitiveness. He urged governments to prioritise industrialisation and reduce dependence on commodity exports, which leave the continent exposed to global price volatility and limit domestic wealth creation.
Mahamadou also called for increased investment in transport corridors, logistics systems and digital infrastructure as prerequisites for unlocking intra-African trade and supporting manufacturing growth. He highlighted Africa’s critical mineral reserves as a strategic asset in supplying materials for the global energy transition, arguing that value addition at the source rather than export of unprocessed minerals must become a continental priority.
He concluded by urging stronger regional cooperation and greater backing for Pan-African financial institutions to mobilise the capital needed for infrastructure, trade and industrial projects that can drive deeper economic integration across the continent.
