ECOWAS MPs urged to dismantle trade barriers for West African businesses

Members of the ECOWAS Parliament have pledged to push for legislative reforms across West Africa following field visits and town hall sessions highlighting severe bureaucratic bottlenecks facing local businesses.

As part of a five-day delocalized joint committee meeting on industry, finance, and private sector development in Cotonou, Benin Republic, regional lawmakers met with entrepreneurs and trade associations to assess challenges hindering Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

High demand, blocked borders

During a parliamentary visit on Wednesday to pineapple processing firm Les Jus Tillou, founder Guedegbe Marcos raised concerns over severe intra-regional trade hurdles, contrasting them with smoother export routes to Europe and Canada.

Marcos noted that despite securing a 4bn CFA loan from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and needing a further 1bn CFA for expansion, regional trade barriers—particularly with Nigeria and Ghana—continue to stifle growth. She told lawmakers that the principle of “free movement of people, goods, and services” remains far from a reality on the ground.

The delegation also visited the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone (GDIZ), a public-private partnership located 45km from Cotonou Port, hosting over 40 processing and manufacturing facilities across textiles, cashew, soy, and electronics.

Corruption and border harassment

At a town hall meeting in Cotonou on Thursday, market traders and business leaders presented a list of grievances to parliamentarians, citing persistent border harassment, corruption, and exorbitant customs fees.

Women traders emphasized the difficulty of securing business loans and called for formalizing informal cross-border trade, along with standardized customs charges across member states.

In response, ECOWAS parliamentarians pledged to take the traders’ concerns to regional leaders and national parliaments, arguing that sub-regional trade must be harnessed to combat poverty and insecurity. Lawmakers agreed that all policy obstacles preventing MSMEs from thriving across West Africa should be reviewed and removed.