Onome Amuge
Five years after the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into force, the promise of a seamless regional market remains elusive for West Africa. Despite its strategic position and potential to serve as a logistics and manufacturing hub, Nigeria and its neighbours are being held back by entrenched inefficiencies that make trade across the region among the costliest in the world.
A recent analysis by Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), reveals that corruption, extortion, and inefficient border management systems are steadily undermining industrial competitiveness and discouraging investment across West and Central Africa. According to CPPE estimates, reducing logistics bottlenecks could cut transport costs by up to 30 per cent and boost intra-African trade by as much as $50 billion annually.
Speaking at the sub-regional seminar and meeting of the Standing Committee No. 1 on Trade and Transport under the Union of African Shippers’ Council, Yusuf warned that the cost of moving goods across the region has reached unsustainable levels, threatening both government revenues and private sector viability.
“The Abidjan–Lagos corridor, which should be a symbol of regional integration, has instead become a case study in dysfunction. It remains one of the most congested and extortion-prone trade routes in the world,” Yusuf said.
Stretching 1,080 kilometres through Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, the corridor carries over 50 million tonnes of freight annually and accounts for more than 70 per cent of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) combined GDP. Yet, Yusuf’s data show that the route is riddled with over 80 checkpoints, most of them illegal, where truck drivers and traders are routinely forced to make informal payments.
Yusuf’s presentation, titled Trade Facilitation Measures to Reduce Cost and Enhance Transport Connectivity in West and Central Africa, described a pattern of regulatory impunity that has persisted despite years of reform pledges.
“Checkpoints that are removed by official order reappear within weeks. The problem is not policy design, it is the absence of accountability. Those benefitting from the status quo have no incentive to change,” he lamented.
The CPPE boss noted that the resulting high transaction costs and unpredictable delivery times have made Nigerian exports uncompetitive within the sub-region. Manufacturers, particularly those in fast-moving consumer goods, face losses from goods damaged or delayed in transit. Logistics firms, meanwhile, are forced to factor extortion premiums into freight pricing, raising costs for end users and fuelling inflation in imported inputs.
Yusuf said poor coordination among customs, port, and border control agencies further compounds the crisis. Manual documentation and a lack of harmonised digital platforms between neighbouring states mean that exporters often spend days repeating clearance procedures at each border post.
“The ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) was meant to eliminate such duplication, but in practice, very few customs officers even recognise the ETLS certificate. The result is a system where rules exist on paper but are meaningless in the field,” he said.
While the AfCFTA was envisioned to unify the continent’s markets and spur industrial growth, Yusuf warned that the current reality of poor transport connectivity and non-tariff barriers threatens to derail its objectives.
His concerns were echoed by Dabney Shall-Holma, chairperson of the Sealink Implementation Committee, who said the slow pace of intra-African goods movement has become a major economic drag. “Five years after AfCFTA adoption, West and Central Africa are still losing billions in trade value due to inefficiencies,” she said.
According to Shall-Holma, inadequate regional maritime connectivity, the absence of indigenous shipping capacity, and fragmented port systems have left African producers overly dependent on foreign logistics networks. “We are not even trading efficiently among ourselves. Over 60 percent of cargo moving between African countries still transits through ports in Europe before returning to the continent,” she said.
She cited the growing competitiveness gap between West Africa and other emerging regions, noting that while Asia has rapidly digitised customs and port operations, most West African countries remain stuck in manual documentation and paper-based clearance systems.
“Ghana and Senegal have demonstrated that automation of port tariffs and trade documentation is possible. They are already generating real-time trade data and expanding revenue collection. What remains is political will and coordination,” Shall-Holma added.
Analysts say the implications for Nigeria are particularly severe. The country accounts for nearly half of West Africa’s GDP and serves as a gateway for trade flows into landlocked neighbours like Niger and Chad. Yet, inefficiencies along the Lagos–Seme axis and the Apapa logistics corridor have rendered cross-border operations frustratingly expensive.
Industry operators noted that clearing goods at Nigerian ports remains far more cumbersome than at Tema in Ghana or Lomé in Togo. “The cost of moving a container from Apapa to Seme can rival the cost of shipping the same container from China to Lagos,” said one logistics executive who requested anonymity.
The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index consistently ranks Nigeria below regional peers in customs efficiency, infrastructure quality, and international shipments. Despite several trade facilitation committees and donor-funded reforms, progress has been painfully slow.
Experts warn that without urgent intervention, the AfCFTA which aims to eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of goods traded across 55 African countries, may bypass Nigeria’s manufacturing sector altogether. “Investors will naturally choose to produce in locations with fewer barriers. If we cannot guarantee smooth logistics and predictable border procedures, our factories will lose regional markets,” Yusuf cautioned.
Both Yusuf and Shall-Holma called for a comprehensive overhaul of trade facilitation systems in the sub-region. Key proposals include the creation of non-tariff barrier resolution desks, harmonisation of customs documentation, and deployment of electronic cargo tracking platforms.
Yusuf emphasised the need for accountability mechanisms to curb extortion by security agencies, while Shall-Holma urged governments to prioritise regional maritime investments and digital customs systems. They agreed that improving trade facilitation could unlock enormous value for governments and businesses alike.
However, they warned that reforms must go beyond policy declarations. “The corridor problem is not about lack of ideas; it is about governance failure. Until there are real consequences for officials who sabotage integration, West Africa’s trade ambitions will remain on paper,” Yusuf said.
Analysts also noted that as Africa works to diversify beyond commodity exports and attract more manufacturing investment, the cost of inaction continues to grow. They caution that without dismantling the informal barriers constraining regional trade routes, the AfCFTA’s goal of a fully integrated African market could remain out of reach.
