Chukwu Obinna 
ABUJA, Nigeria – West Africa risks squandering the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area unless governments dismantle barriers excluding women, young people and informal traders, a senior Economic Community of West African States official warns.
ECOWAS programme officer for trade development, Christopher Mensah-Yawson on Wednesday, told an extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja that inclusive policies are essential to unlock AfCFTA’s full benefits. He describes the region’s youthful and female-heavy population as both an opportunity and a risk if marginalised groups remain locked out of formal markets.
“Our population exceeds 456 million, nearly half women, with a median age of 18.2 years,” Mensah-Yawson says. “These are enormous opportunities and serious challenges for integration.”
He says women make up about 74 per cent of informal cross-border traders yet face cumbersome customs rules, poor storage, gender-insensitive border facilities and harassment. Young people under 25, he adds, depend heavily on informal trade but struggle to transition into formal commerce.
Mensah-Yawson points to ECOWAS initiatives including the Informal Trade Regularisation Support Programme, a 2024–2030 Trade and Gender Framework and a Regional E-Commerce Strategy. AfCFTA’s Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade and simplified trade regimes also offer pathways, but he stresses that national reforms remain critical.
The week-long parliamentary session focuses on inclusive growth across the 16-nation bloc. AfCFTA, covering 54 countries and a market of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP above $3.4 trillion, is the world’s largest free trade area by membership.
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Korede Abdullah 
