President of Gambia’s clearing and forwarding agents hits on free trade issues in West Africa

The General Assembly of the FELCBA was held in Lome, Togo, on 15 and 16 November 2024, bringing together key players and stakeholders in the clearing and forwarding industry of the sub-region.

The Gambia was represented by three top officials of the Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agents of the Gambia (ACCFA) who successfully participated in the recently concluded General Assembly of the FELCBA.

The Gambian delegation comprised Momodou Sowe, secretary general of the ACCFA, Sulayman Joof, adviser to the ACCFA president, and Essa Wally, president of ACCFA, who led the delegation to Lome, Togo, as part of the organising team.

Addressing the General Assembly, Essa Wally, who has also been elected as the vice chair of the steering committee of the FELCBA, said the Federation of the ECOWAS  Licence Customs Brokers was established in 2003 to promote efficient and effective transportation and management of goods within the sub-region.

‘What is happening in the West African sub-region in terms of free trade between member states is not something that we could be proud of’ Mr Wally said.

“Statistics gathered have provided evidence of the unexploited potentials in sub-regional trade because of the lack of implementation of regional agreements that were designed to eliminate Tariff and non-Tariff barriers to trade in the sub-region,” Mr Wally said, harping on “payment of charges by customs, police and immigration officers before road blocks are removed to ensure passage.”

He appeals to his fellow members in the sub-region: “We are now together preparing the next journey for this organization to the regional level. Our choices will determine what this organization becomes. It is time for each of us to ensure that we take charge of the destiny of our organization and have the same sense of responsibility that we are demanding. What we are here discussing was to complement ECOWAS, AES and UEMCA, West Africa Monetary Union. Those secretariats can make the protocol and the laws but we are the ones to make it work.”

All are partners in development and could not go without each other, he said, adding that the objective of ECOWAS, AFCFTA and the AES is to prepare customs officials and stakeholders to have an understanding of their protocols and agreements and their implementation.

Therefore, he stated, their targets are no other than the stakeholders involved in the shipping or transport sector, and customs clearing & forwarding agency in the region:

“It is therefore important that we use this meeting to take stock of the challenges confronted in the transportation of goods and the free movement of persons in our sub-region.”

Statistics have revealed that there is an increase in the export and the re-export trade among Ecowas states, he noted: “The total trade of the region has an average of $208.1 billion. Exports are projected at approximately $137.3 billion while imports total about $80.4 billion. The main active countries in trade are Nigeria, which alone accounts for approximately 76 percent of total trade followed by Ghana (9.2 percent) and Côte d’Ivoire (8.64 percent).

“The trade surplus of the region, estimated at about $47.3 billion is attributable to Nigeria ($58.4 billion) and Côte d’Ivoire ($3.4 billion) when all other countries have a deficit in the trade balance.”

According to Mr Wally, currently, total ECOWAS trade has increased by an average of 18 percent per year between 2005 and 2014:”It is dominated by mining commodities (oil resources, iron, bauxite, manganese, gold, etc.) and agriculture (coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, fruits and vegetables and other products rather marketed within the region (dry cereals, roots and tubers, livestock products, etc.). Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal concentrate 87 percent of this trade, with 79 percent of regional imports ($55,520 million per year) and 94 percent of exports and re-exports ($77,792 million per year).”

Mr Wally also pointed out that a study was done in 2019 which indicated that for Benin a sum of $501.1 million stood as import cost within Ecowas, and $125,000 million as export earnings from Ecowas states, hence importation of goods from the sub-region amounted to 11% of total import. And earning from export from the region amounted to 7.7%.

Looking at the statistics of the Gambia comparatively, Mr Wally highlights, statistics  have revealed that the highest percentage of total import from the Ecowas bloc is 14% registered by Burkina Faso, followed by The Gambia with a percentage of 12.8 and Côte d’Ivoire with a percentage of 12.1%.

In terms of export value to the bloc, Gambia registered a percentage of 56.2 followed by Togo with a percentage of 52.4% and Senegal with a percentage of 31.5%, stated Mr Wally.