By Blessing Samuel
International Law Expert, Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, has called for the urgent ratification and implementation of the AU Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, saying it is essential to unlock the full economic potential of AfCFTA’s 1.4-billion-person market.
Professor Ladan made the call on Thursday, 30th July 2026, during his lead presentation at the 20th anniversary celebration of SSK Law Firm in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking on trade mobility, the AfCFTA agreement and regional economic integration in Africa, the Professor of International Law and Migration said the 2018 African Union Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Rights of Residence and Establishment is not a secondary addendum to AfCFTA, but its operational catalyst.
“True market integration can not occur if commodities or goods move freely under AfCFTA intra-African trade framework, while the human capital, like cross-border traders, entrepreneurs, service providers, creative artists, logisticians, and other professionals who are to trade, transport, service, innovate, and add value to those goods are bottlenecked by restrictive visa regimes, border barriers, and protectionist labour laws,” he said.
Prof. Ladan noted that evidence shows that where mobility is unduly restricted, informal trade is forced into precarious corridors of extortion, corporate supply chains fragment, and the economic yields of AfCFTA shrink.
He, however, cited Rwanda, Kenya, and Ghana as examples where the calculated removal of mobility barriers through automated identity systems, digital single windows, and unified payment rails has created safe, secure, and highly productive economic environments.
“For Africa to capture the full promise of its 1.4-billion-person market, member states must move past defensive border paradigms and view regulated free movement as a primary engine of continental growth,” he concluded.