The key to an integrated Africa
By Yamkela Makupula
The Covid-19 pandemic has dragged African economies into a fall of about 1.4 percent in GDP, with smaller economies facing contraction of up to 7.8 percent. This has forced many already poor and heavily indebted countries to further borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) just to survive the pandemic. In fact, many have already borrowed from the future.
With debt overtaking total economic output, how will these African nations recover?
The answer lies in the complete integration of the African continent. Individually, African countries are weak, but united they could unleash Africa’s true potential.
Firstly, African leaders must honour the commitments they have made and implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). AfCFTA must be the priority in the formation of policy and regulation in every signatory country.
We need to start looking at the issues that keep Africans divided. Infrastructure is the greatest impediment that keeps us apart.
There are more than 600 million Africans who don’t have electricity. Most are women in rural areas. Without electricity, there are no mobile phones or internet. These women are isolated from each other, the rest of their country and the continent. Development projects that do not include women should not be funded by the African Development Bank and similar institutions.
Political leaders must see the enormous value in cross-border infrastructure investment. Poor road and rail networks make it costly to do business in Africa.
The Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Road Corridor Project is an example. It used to take truck drivers up to a week to cover the dilapidated 500km stretch between Mombasa and Addis Ababa. Fresh produce destined for neighbouring markets rotted away in the trucks. The situation paralysed trade between Kenya and Ethiopia. Since the rehabilitation of the road in 2016, it now takes one day to get from Kenya to Ethiopia. Kenya-Ethiopia trade has increased by 400 percent in the last three years.
The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, which is being co-ordinated by Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin is an example of the transnational transport development that African leaders and institutions should be investing in. It envisions 290 km of highway and 630 km of roads from Abidjan to Lagos through Accra, Lome and Cotonou. The network would also serve landlocked Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
When completed, over 75 percent of West Africa’s trade volumes would be transported along this corridor.
Between 80 to 90 percent of goods and people are transported by road in Africa. So, there needs to be more roads linking African countries.
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the need for Africa to prioritize manufacturing. Africa produces less than 1 percent of the vaccines that Africans require. More than six million jobs can be created if the continent can seize on manufacturing vaccines and its related products.
Achieving full Africa-wide integration will be difficult as long as Africans require visas to travel on the continent.
Only Seychelles, The Gambia and Benin offer visa-free access to all African travellers. The East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) are the only regional blocs that allow their citizens to move around freely.
How will African economies grow when small business owners are forced to pay exorbitant duties while their goods are stuck for weeks in customs terminals in African cities?
Africa has the highest average import duties and the highest average non-tariff barriers in the world. It is cheaper and easier for Africans to do business with Europe and Asia. It’s not surprising, then, that intra-African exports comprise just 16.6 percent of total exports.
The latest Africa Regional Integration Index reveals the continent’s low integration average score of just 0.327 out of 1.
All of this keeps us apart, hampering the free flow of people and goods on the continent.
Regional integration and the smashing of colonially-imposed borders and attitudes has long been a dream of Kwame Nkrumah. Perhaps brave African leaders, along with their partners in the private sector and civil society, will decolonise by integrating Africa.
This can be achieved if leaders have a big-picture vision; effective strategies and a desire to rise above national and regional rivalries to break barriers to trade and development.
Yamkela Makupula is the CEO of DiazReus Africa in Johannesburg, and leads the Africa growth strategy division of the International law firm.
