Tinubu, Ghanaian Envoy Call for Inter-African Trade

By Adesoji Oyinlola

Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Sylvester J.K. Parker-Allotey, consular-general of Ghana have agreed there should be massive inter-African trade and called on both Nigeria and Ghana to do everything in their power to make such a continental market a reality.

Both made their views known in Lagos, at the induction of Asiwaju Tinubu as the Grand Patron of the Nigerian component of the Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST), a Ghana government initiative to push the doctrine of Pan-Africanism through the theatre and historical colloquiums to awaken the African essence.

Asiwaju Tinubu regretted that despite its rich history and proud culture, the contemporary story of Africa was that of war, famine and hunger; a continent plagued by sit-tight rulers, at sea on how to actualise and maximise the huge potentials of their peoples.

He praised the efforts of Ghana and South Africa and the stable democracies that both countries have attained, adding that such was needed to grow African economies and increase the volume of inter-African trade, to drive development and prosperity.

“Ghana’s democratic accomplishments, leading to the historic Barack Obama visit, holds out two challenges: that Ghana’s laudable democratic achievements are well and truly applauded by the international community; and challenging Ghana to sustain that tempo aside from asking the rest of Africa to toe Ghana’s democratic path.”

Praising Ghana for beaming attention on West Africa, he said a truly integrated African economy should start with the changing of extant laws that lay too much store by artificial colonial boundaries, adding that it was time Africans moved freely in Africa to trade and integrate with one another; but warned that Africa needed to produce more to have things to sell to one another.

The former governor said he would do his best as grand patron of PANAFEST Nigeria to push these desirable goals, adding that there was a lot in African trade, tourism and the environment to make African economies more competitive and also promote inter-African trade.

In his own contribution, Mr. Parker-Allotey, the Ghana consul-general in Lagos, declared that close African trade would not take off until Nigeria and Ghana played the role of Germany and France in jump-starting the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU).

He declared that current inter-African trade, put at a mere four per cent, was unacceptable and that growing trade, among African countries, should be treated as priority by African governments.

He recalled travelling through Europe and seeing Europeans of different countries moving and trading freely but regretted the reverse was the case in Africa. He mentioned a particular case in Southern Africa; when a European had to plead with immigration officials to allow a fellow African enter that country.