President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called for the strengthening of regional economic communities to drive integration and trade ties among African nations in order to deepen democracy and accelerate development across the continent.
President Tinubu made the call during the Summit on the State of Democracy in Africa on Wednesday in Abuja, where he called for revitalization of sub-regional blocs like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), East African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC) as vehicles to usher in an era of robust intra-African commerce, economic growth, and job creation.
Some of the points President Tinubu mentioned are:
– The immense potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can only be maximally realized when there is concrete economic integration and collaboration at the different sub-regional levels.
– Regional bodies should prioritize minimizing trade barriers, promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth, human capital development, and value addition in agriculture and agro-allied sectors.
– African sub-regional organizations can help foster better intra-African trade, achieve better food and energy security, promote higher rates of youth employment, alleviate poverty, and realize greater prosperity for the people.
– A reinvigorated sub-regional cooperation is critical for the successful implementation of the path-breaking AfCFTA by harmonizing rules and regulations to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, and people.
– Leaders must respect constitutional tenets like term limits and ensure credible elections and autonomous institutions through the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to achieve democratic consolidation.
– Regional blocs should be empowered to establish well-funded standby military forces to help contain military adventurers and the rampaging waves of terrorism and religious extremism.
– Africa can no longer be the “doormat of the world with street beggar economies.”
– Concrete measures should be taken through reinvented regional bodies to boost trade, enhance security, and entrench constitutional democracy for development and prosperity.
