Lawmakers of the ECOWAS Parliament have called for sweeping legal and policy reforms to remove longstanding barriers stifling women- and youth-led businesses, warning that West Africa risks missing out on the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) if inclusive trade is not prioritised.
The call came at the close of deliberations preceding the Parliament’s First Extraordinary Session of 2026 in Abuja, where members debated how to reposition the sub-region to compete effectively under Africa’s single market framework.
With a regional population of over 400 million people—most of them women and young persons—parliamentarians stressed that AfCFTA must not become an elite-driven trade arrangement that sidelines the informal sector, which forms the backbone of West Africa’s economy.
Speaker of the Parliament, Rt. Hon. Maimounatou Ibrahima, said the sub-region must urgently confront structural bottlenecks that limit the productivity and competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly those owned by women and youth.
She argued that AfCFTA presents an unprecedented opportunity for economic transformation, but only if governments and lawmakers enact reforms that simplify trade procedures, improve access to finance, and eliminate discriminatory practices at borders.
Earlier, Christopher Mensah-Yawson of the Trade Directorate at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission presented a paper titled “Women, Youth, and Informal Cross-border Traders: Unlocking Inclusive Growth Under AfCFTA.”
He revealed that women account for nearly three-quarters of informal cross-border traders in West Africa, while a significant proportion of young people under 25 depend on informal commerce for survival.
Despite their economic importance, he noted, these groups face multiple constraints, including complex customs documentation, limited access to credit, poor storage infrastructure, gender-insensitive border facilities, harassment, extortion and insecurity.
Mensah-Yawson described AfCFTA as a potential equaliser, pointing to mechanisms such as the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, simplified trade regimes and digital trade platforms designed to formalise and scale up small businesses.
He added that ECOWAS has introduced initiatives including an Informal Trade Regularisation Support Programme, a Trade and Gender Framework (2024–2030), and a Regional E-Commerce Strategy aimed at integrating vulnerable traders into formal markets.
However, lawmakers insisted that frameworks alone would not suffice without enforceable legislation and effective implementation at national levels.
Guy Marious, a parliamentarian from Senegal, urged stronger protection measures for local SMEs to shield them from being overwhelmed by larger continental competitors under AfCFTA.
Nigeria’s Blessing Onu called for deliberate integration of women and youth into trade policies, pressing financial institutions to expand affordable credit to emerging entrepreneurs.
Hon. Amodu Camara of The Gambia cautioned against allowing discussions to remain rhetorical, urging concrete timelines and measurable actions to support women- and youth-owned enterprises.
Other members echoed concerns that persistent non-tariff barriers, weak border management systems and inadequate infrastructure continue to undermine intra-regional trade.
The debate underscored a growing recognition within the ECOWAS Parliament that the success of AfCFTA in West Africa will depend largely on whether it can uplift the millions of small traders—particularly women and youth—who power the region’s informal economy.
As AfCFTA implementation gathers momentum, lawmakers signalled that legislative activism, regulatory reforms and targeted investments will be critical to ensuring that West Africa’s most vulnerable entrepreneurs are not left behind in Africa’s largest trade experiment.
