The golden triad of domestic, regional, and international trade catalyzes markets and, by extension, economic growth and productivity – in an ideal state. The significant counterpoint however, is that geoeconomics, geopolitics, and overriding national interests, unitedly impede, and at times upend the golden triad of trade – on the recent evidence of U.S. global “reciprocal” tariffs.

That thesis is manifested in a combination of factors including – economic protectionism, market distortions, political interference, subsidy regimes, and opaque practices. It extends to trade tariffs, extremely tough immigration measures in G7 industrialised countries – Canada, Germany, UK, France, Japan, Italy, USA, and the non-enumerated member, the European Union.

These murky dynamics are compounded by the complexities of war across several hellfire zones viz. Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Yemen. Across Africa, ethno-religious terrorism and the quest for rare earth minerals are frontally implicated in the fiendish theatres of war like Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, parts of Nigeria, Sudan etc.

The inference invokes effective bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral diplomatic relations, policy certainty, leadership, political stability, economic productivity, and social order, as indispensable conditions for actualising effective trade.

That said, because the world is riven by striking volatilities, uncertainties, complexities and opacities in multifarious ideological and strategic contexts; selective compliance with a rules-based international legal order; the likelihood of a “steady state”, propagated by the 19th Century classical economist, John Stuart Mill, which envisaged capital, economic, and population stabilisation, relative to social improvements and environmental sustainability, is marginal.

The material question then becomes: how is Africa strategically and impactfully leading the charge for broader, deeper, and more effective intra-continental trade?The poser is largely analysed via the interdependent agency ofthe Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), the African Development BankGroup (AfDB) and the African Export and ImportBank (Afreximbank).

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), founded in 1975 as a 15-bloc union comprising the sovereign states Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo; was by its very definition, an attempt to catalyse intra-regional African trade.

That claim is established by Article 2, Section 1, of the original ECOWAS Treaty 1975: “it shall be the aim of the Community to promote co-operation and development in all fields of economic activity…for the purpose of raising the standard of living of its peoples, of increasing and maintaining economic stability…”

Decisively, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – all under military dictatorships- formally exited ECOWAS on December 15, 2024, following ideological differences with the bloc. Accordingly, ECOWAS is now a 12-bloc regional group!

Pragmatically, ECOWAS has, with varying degrees of success, secured important geostrategic gains over the years notably:Free Movement Protocol: West Africans can travel, work, and reside in any member state without visa restrictions subject to overriding national security concerns. ECOWAS biometric identity cards and passports enhance intra-regional co-operation and mobility; Enhanced Investment: the bloc attracted United States foreign investments worth $6.8 billion in 2022; Free Trade Area: Because trade liberalisation underpins the ECOWAS philosophy there is a relatively frictionless intra-regional border which facilitates free movement of goods and services across frontiers, which enhances regional and pan-continental trade; Common External Tariff (CET).

The adoption of a CET in 2015 has harmonised trade policies, thereby bolstering economic cooperation and simplified business operations across borders; Infrastructure Development: The Kano-Maradi, Lagos-Abidjan, Dakar- Lagos transport links exemplifies the ECOWAS’aspiration to transform regional infrastructure, and by extension, catalyse trade and economic growth.

Additional gains extend to increased economic opportunities. By creating a large regional market, ECOWAS provides opportunities for businesses to expand and grow, creating jobs and increasing economic activity. In a broader geostrategic context, the logic of enhancing transnational economic cooperation informs the UK’s decision, post-2016 Brexit, to strike multi-billion-pound trade deals with the United States, India, and the European Union in 2025.

In other words, the benefits of economic collaboration and stability, all things being equal, outweigh the downsides. Plus, ECOWAS, via the agency of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), seeks to integrate the region’s power systems into a unified market for regular and reliable energy. Furthermore, the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) an organic regional multilateral defence initiative, helped facilitate the cessation of the Liberian Civil War (1989-1997), whilst limiting conflicts in Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, in 1997 and 1999, respectively.

Wider in scope and building upon the ECOWAS foundations, is the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) (2019); a pivotal initiative of the African Union’s 2063 Agenda (“The Africa We Want”) aiming to transform the continent into a global powerhouse underpinned by economic prosperity, inclusive growth, and environmental sustainability.

AfCTA seeks to establish an integrated single unified market for the continent. Its core objectives aim to catalyse intra-African trade and investment, enhance Africa’s global trade competitiveness, re-activate economic collaboration, cooperation and coordination; and create a vibrant continental market with a gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding $3 trillion.

The intended positive multiplier effects include enhanced access to new markets and customers;simplified customs procedures and eliminating 97 per cent of intra-continental trade tariffs; more efficient and seamless trade facilitation and infrastructure; safeguarding intellectual property rights; optimising foreign investments, increasing economic growth, and productivity. It is envisaged that AfCTA will expand Africa’s GDP by approximately 4 per cent in the decade to 2035.

On its part, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), building on existing initiatives, through its Ten-Year Strategy (2024-2033), aims to redress cascading socio-economic complexities post-Covid including food insecurity, infrastructural gaps, technological chasms, unemployment, climate change challenges, recurrent political instability and sovereign debt overhangs. Combined, those significant challenges risk crippling the African Union’s Agenda 2063; and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a shared framework for achieving global peace and prosperity by 2030.

AfDB aims to tackle those complexities through strategic, targeted, and transformative investments across the continent in concert with multilateral development banks and select partners by optimising Africa’s economic growth, competitiveness and sustainable development. How? In part, through five mission critical initiatives which are closely aligned with Agenda 2063 and the SDGs whilst reinforcing the “quasi-universal” priorities of all the countries which make up the continent: i.) Light-up and Power Africa; ii.) Feed Africa; iii.) Industrialise Africa;iv.) Integrate Africa; and v.) Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.

These five areas resonate deeply with both Agenda 2063 and the SDGs, reflecting African nations’ priorities and leveraging the AfDB’s core competencies to facilitate sustainable and impactful investment projects and programmes.

Three significant AfDB’s deliverables includeThe Economic Governance and Private Sector Development Support Programme valued at $31.3 million, in Benin Republic. Its central aim is to increase private sector contribution to the economy by improving the business climate, supporting the agri-food sector, and strengthening climate action. The specific objectives are: (i) improve business climate; (ii) strengthen the Special Economic Zones (SEZs); (iii) support the agribusiness sector; and (iv) support climate resilience.

The second is Nigeria’sFidelity Bank PLC long-term, dedicated and targeted credit line of up to $50 million over seven years, including a two-year grace period. It aims to increase the resources used by Fidelity to finance its project pipeline and expand its portfolio and lending activities to women’sbusinesses and SMEs operating in several sectors.

The project was designed to help Fidelity meet the medium-term financing requirement of its project pipeline in the processing sectors in Nigeria, whilst contributing towards reducing financing constraints faced by businesses owned by women, as well as SMEs operating in the manufacturing and agriculture, health and education sectors; promoting private sector development, increase productivity, enhance household incomes and promote broad-based economic growth, with a view of contributing to the structural transformation in Nigeria and the diversification of its economy away from excessive on the oil and gas sectors; enhance positive gender and social effects ditto inclusive growth.

The third initiative is Kenya’s National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Program (NUWSSP) aimed at improving access to safe and reliable water supply and sanitation services in selected towns in 16 counties across the country, valued at $126.2 million.

Linked to that, is Afreximbank’s strategic focus on stimulating a consistent expansion and diversification of African trade in order to catalyse the continent’s share of global trade. Accomplishing that overarching strategy pivots on advancing pan-African trade, facilitating industrialisation and export development, boosting trade finance leadership and improve financial performance and corporate governance.

Afreximbank’s critical success factors are characterised by evidence-based increases in pan-African trade finance and facilitation, sustained financial performance and value-added exports. That proposition is established, in part, by Afreximbank’s $75 million seed capital to advance innovative and vital biomedical research on the continent, particularly on diseases which disproportionately affect people of Africans like sickle cell anaemia. That funding will be cascaded through the African Life Sciences Foundation over a three-year period.

Momentously in June 2025, the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) $300 million tertiary medical facility, developed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with King’s College Hospital London, UK; and strategic collaboration with Nigeria’s Bank of Industry, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was launched in Abuja, Nigeria.

It symbolises a critical advance towards healthcare sovereignty, undercutting unnecessary medical tourism; conserving approximately $10 billion foreign exchange which can be utilised on the continent in improving healthcare investments and outcomes.AMCE offers world-class services across oncology, haematology, cardiology, and general medical services.
To be continued.
Ojumu is the Principal Partner at Balliol Myers LP, a firm of legal practitioners and strategy consultants in Lagos, Nigeria, author of The Dynamic Intersections of Economics, Foreign Relations, Jurisprudence and National Development (2023).