By Falil Ayo Abina
Africa does not have a trade problem. Africa has a movement problem. For decades, African leaders have spoken passionately about continental integration, economic cooperation, and the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Yet the reality remains painfully different. For many Africans, it is often easier to travel to Europe or the Middle East than to travel across Africa itself.
No continent in modern history has achieved deep economic integration while making it difficult for its own people, entrepreneurs, investors, tourists, and professionals to move freely.
The contradiction is glaring. We speak of a united Africa while maintaining some of the world’s most restrictive travel arrangements between neighboring countries. We celebrate AfCFTA while forcing businesspeople and tourists to navigate visa requirements, long airport layovers, and expensive flight routes that often require transiting through Paris, London, Doha, Dubai, or Istanbul before reaching another African city.
If African leaders are serious about prosperity, two reforms should become immediate continental priorities: visa-free movement for Africans and the creation of interconnected aviation hubs across the continent. Bola Tinubu, Cyril Ramaphosa, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, William Ruto, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and John Mahama should call off the long talks and take the bold step to free the continent from the shackles of the iron curtain now.
The strongest argument for reform may have come from Africa’s richest man himself. Aliko Dangote, whose businesses operate across numerous African countries, publicly lamented that he requires approximately 35 visas to travel across the continent. He rightly asked how African investors can be expected to build continental businesses when movement across Africa is more difficult for Africans than for many Europeans. Samad Rabiu, the second-wealthiest African and black man, was denied entry into Cape Town cause his visa had expired by a day.
The irony is painful. A French executive can often move more freely across Africa than an African industrialist investing billions of dollars on the continent. In the same way, African tourists find it easier to spend their resources in Dubai, Europe, and America than in the vast tourist zones of the motherland.
The frustration is shared by all and sundry in Africa . Reports have circulated, whether affecting billionaires, ordinary entrepreneurs, or tourists, the message is the same: Africa’s border walls are imposing unnecessary costs on African growth. Pull down the walls and build some bridges.
The economic consequences of these walls are enormous. Intra-African trade remains among the lowest of any major region in the world. Cross-border investments are slower than they should be. Tourism remains underdeveloped despite Africa possessing some of the most extraordinary attractions on Earth. Investors lose time, airlines lose passengers, hotels lose guests, and economies lose opportunities.
Rwanda has demonstrated that another path is possible. Through progressive visa policies, openness to African visitors, and a deliberate strategy of positioning Kigali as a continental meeting point, Rwanda has become one of Africa’s leading destinations for conferences, tourism, and investment. Openness has strengthened, not weakened, its economic position. The last African talk shop was in Kigali in May 2026
The natural next step to this is aviation. It is economically irrational that a traveller moving from West Africa to Southern Africa or from East Africa to Central Africa often spends more time and money connecting through Europe or the Gulf than travelling directly within Africa.
Africa’s ten largest economies and population centres, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Angola, Tanzania, and Ghana, should lead a continental aviation revolution.
Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo, Addis Ababa, Casablanca, and Nairobi should become interconnected mega-hubs linked by frequent, affordable, and efficient air services. Open-skies agreements, harmonized regulations, and coordinated infrastructure investments could transform how Africans move, trade, and do business.
The impact on tourism alone would be extraordinary.
Imagine seamless travel circuits connecting the Pyramids of Egypt, the Serengeti, Zanzibar, The Kilimanjaro, the wild life of Arusha , the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda, Victoria Falls, Cape Town, Marrakech, the Obudu cattle ranch , the splendor of the Taraba, the suspended lake of Ado Awaye, the Okavango Delta, Mwanza ,Ethiopia’s historic treasures, and numerous West Africa’s cultural heritage sites.
Africa possesses some of the world’s greatest tourism assets, yet captures only a fraction of global tourism revenue. The problem is not a lack of attractions. The problem is accessibility.
A more connected Africa would encourage not only foreign visitors but also millions of Africans to explore their own continent, creating jobs across airlines, hotels, restaurants, transport, entertainment, and retail.
Critics argue that visa-free movement could increase illegal migration and security risks. These concerns are legitimate but manageable. Modern biometric passports, digital identity systems, intelligence sharing, and coordinated border management can significantly reduce these risks. The choice is not between security and openness. Successful regions around the world have shown that both can coexist.
What Africa cannot afford is continued fragmentation.
A continent of nearly 1.5 billion people should function as one of the world’s largest economic spaces. Instead, we continue to behave like dozens of disconnected markets.
The economic gains from freer movement, aviation liberalization, increased tourism, stronger investment flows, and deeper regional trade could be transformative. Whether the resulting GDP boost reaches 10 percent, 15 percent, or approaches 20 percent over the medium term, the direction is unmistakable: Africa would be wealthier, more productive, and more competitive.
History will not judge African leaders by the number of summits they attended or declarations they signed. It will judge them by whether they had the courage to remove the barriers preventing Africans from doing business with Africans.
The question is no longer whether Africa should embrace free movement and continental connectivity. The question is what possible justification remains for delaying it.
Africa: Tear down the walls, let’s build some bridges.
Abina, Chair of AACS ( Consulting & Principal Investment ) is a member of the Presidential Fiscal Policy & Tax Reform Committee