By Mark Longyen
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says its Free Movement Protocol is crucial to the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) policy and regional integration.
ECOWAS Director, Free Movement of Persons and Migration, Albert Siaw-Boateng, stated this in a presentation at the ECOWAS Parliament‘s 2026 First Extraordinary Session and Seminar, on Tuesday, in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that The ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol allows for a borderless region where ECOWAS citizens can move, live, and work freely across member states.
According to Siaw-Boateng, the protocol, which is implemented in three phases, aligns with AfCFTA’s policy and is a core element of the bloc’s regional integration agenda.
He described the Protocol, which was adopted in 1979 and revised in 1993, as ECOWAS’ most ambitious integration instrument, adding that human mobility remained a powerful tool for economic integration.
“The first phase allows travel without a visa using a passport and health certificate, and the 90 days limit has been abolished.
“Subsequent phases guarantee the right of residence and establishment for migrants to work and run businesses across member states,” he said.
The director, however, warned that the protocol was facing the challenges of weak data systems, informality in labour markets, and uneven enforcement of free movement rules in member states.
He also warned that existing governance gaps could undermine regional integration and AfCFTA ambitions, adding that its benefits depended on effective governance structures.
“Reliable data is critical for tracking labour mobility and aligning policies across the region.
“Building a harmonised regional data collection and management system provides the foundation for policymakers to develop evidence-based migration and development policies,” he stressed.
He listed the governance gaps to include limited labour inspection, weak social protection portability, and insufficient labour market information sharing, adding that data fragmentation and weak enforcement of the protocol continued to hinder implementation in some countries.
Siaw-Boateng also identified labour informality as a major challenge, saying ECOWAS was prioritising aligning free movement with labour standards and protections to ensure that migrants were not exploited.
Other challenges, he said, included skills mismatches and limited recognition of qualifications, which he said were being addressed through some initiatives, adding that several programmes were also underway to address the gaps.
“These include the EU-funded Free Movement and Migration Project, the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card, the ECO-Visa, and a Regional Labour Migration Statistics Programme.
“About 70 per cent of migrant workers are in the informal sector, making it difficult to regulate labour standards and extend social protection.
“While labour mobility supports industrial development, addresses skills gaps, and promotes women and youth inclusion, robust governance reforms and digital labour mobility systems are needed to fully unlock the benefits of AfCFTA and regional integration,” he added.
NAN reports that the presentation aimed to highlight the link between human mobility and regional integration, examine labour mobility as a driver of intra-regional trade, assess progress, and identify challenges to labour migration governance.”(NAN)(nannews.ng)
Edited by Bayo Sekoni
