For years, the promise of African integration has been wrapped in ambitious declarations, high-level agreements and bold visions of a borderless continent. Yet sometimes the clearest picture of Africa’s economic reality does not emerge from conference halls or policy papers. It appears in airport terminals, immigration counters and moments of unexpected frustration. That was the reality confronted by Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Chair of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers, upon arriving in Lomé, Togo, for Biashar Africa 2026.
What she encountered was not merely an inconvenience; it was a stark reminder of one of Africa’s most persistent contradictions: while the continent speaks passionately about integration and trade liberalisation, Africans themselves still struggle to move freely across Africa.
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“Arriving in Lomé, I witnessed firsthand the frustration African travellers still face navigating intra-African travel restrictions and visa-on-arrival processes,” she reflected, a statement that quickly evolved into a much deeper challenge to the continent’s economic ambitions. Standing before presidents, ministers, policymakers, financiers, investors and business leaders gathered at Biashar Africa 2026, Oduwole delivered more than a ceremonial address. She offered an urgent diagnosis of Africa’s unfinished journey toward economic unity.
Biashar, she reminded delegates, means business. And business, she argued, remains the engine driving Africa’s industrialisation, expanding intra-African trade, creating jobs, empowering women and MSMEs and building resilient economies. But her vision stretched beyond economics. “We often say what we believe: Africa’s future will not be imported,” she declared. “It is being built, traded and financed into being within Africa, by Africans, for Africa.”
Those words reflected a growing continental consensus emerging from recent high-level gatherings including the Africa Forward Forum and the Africa CEO Forum: Africa’s future will depend not on external rescue but on deeper integration, stronger regional value chains and a private sector empowered to compete globally.
For Oduwole, the challenge is no longer conceptual; it is operational. Africa cannot continue participating at the margins of global trade while neglecting commerce within its own borders. The continent’s market of over 1.4 billion people remains one of its greatest untapped opportunities, but unlocking that potential requires more than treaties and declarations. It demands implementation. As Chair of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers, Oduwole occupies a strategic position at the centre of that implementation process. The Council serves as the principal decision-making body responsible for policy direction and oversight, ensuring that the African Continental Free Trade Area moves from aspiration to measurable impact. Her message was unmistakable: the urgency has changed. “There is literally no time to waste.”
Yet it was not policy language that became the defining moment of her address. It was a story. The night before the forum, two ECOWAS passport holders from Nigeria and Ghana, both Africans, arrived in Togo. Despite carrying valid regional passports, they were reportedly unable to enter using those credentials. Instead, they processed visas through foreign passports they also held and received only 24-hour entry permissions. One individual, a financial services investor with business interests in Nigeria and Ghana, reached an immediate conclusion. Before even leaving the airport, he had reportedly decided he would not consider investing.
For Oduwole, the implications extended far beyond one traveller or one country. “This is not a Togo problem,” she explained. Drawing from her nine-year experience leading ease-of-doing-business reforms in Nigeria, she noted that such barriers persist across Africa. The issue was systemic. Trade barriers are not only found in tariffs, regulations or infrastructure deficits; sometimes they exist in experiences that silently discourage investment before conversations even begin. Trade, she argued, starts with communication, trust-building and relationships. Before Africa can fully exchange goods and services, Africans themselves must be able to move, connect and collaborate.
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The irony, she pointed out, is difficult to ignore. Within Europe, the idea of a European being denied entry based on an EU passport would be almost unimaginable. Yet across Africa, similar barriers continue to shape business decisions and undermine the very integration leaders publicly support. Her intervention transformed a personal travel experience into a larger continental reflection. If Africa truly intends to build a single market under AfCFTA, movement cannot remain an afterthought.
As preparations begin for the next AfCFTA Council of Ministers meeting scheduled for Abuja later in June 2026, Oduwole called for more than dialogue. She called for political will, practical action and business-driven solutions capable of removing barriers that continue to slow Africa’s progress. Because for all the optimism surrounding the African Continental Free Trade Area, one reality remains unavoidable: Africa cannot trade seamlessly if Africans themselves cannot move seamlessly. And perhaps the continent’s next great economic breakthrough will not begin with another agreement signed inside a conference room. It may begin with making sure an African passport opens African doors.
