Experts have warned that visa policies in most African countries are hindering growth on the continent because they stiffle free movement of goods and people.

The visa policies and regimes have made it difficult for Africans to travel across the continent compared to European or American passport holders, a factor economists say is among the major issues holding back integration.

Going by the Africa Visa Openness report, released in February by the African Development Bank (AfDB), movement across the continent for African passport holders continues to suffer from visa policies.

The report established that, on average, Africans need visas to travel to 55 per cent of other African countries, can get visas on arrival in only 25 per cent of other countries and don’t need a visa to travel to just 20 per cent of other countries on the continent.

Only 13 African countries offer liberal access to Africans, the report established. In terms of regions, the openness index is better for East Africa and West Africa and lower in North Africa. It is much lower for countries in the middle income countries.

AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina said that in analysing the recent global price, commodity shocks and its impact on Africa, among the emerging issues was the ease of travel for African passport holders across the continent.

"As we analyse the global price commodity shocks on Africa, it is important that we look at what happens in the regional markets in Africa to reduce the susceptibility of the continent to global price shocks,” Adesina told The New Times in an exclusive interview last week.

He said the complexities and challenges for African passport holders to travel across the continent was part of the factors for low levels of intra-Africa trade.

"Intra-Africa trade is currently at 11 per cent, which is far below the levels of other parts of the world. Asia is way above 40 per cent, Europe about 70 per cent. Africa needs a larger, integrated market and mobility of people to be able to do that. One of the biggest challenges to intra-Africa trade is the ease of travel across the continent for African passport holders,” Adesina said.

Interventions

Some of the interventions to remedy the situation, he says include introducing visa on arrival policy in more countries.

Adesina also urged regional blocs to borrow a leaf from the East Africa Community’s visa-free regional blocs and regional bloc visas for easy movement.

"We are trying to drive a continental visa reform programme for Africa to make things simple by removing challenges and easing procedures. We also want to promote visa policy reciprocity to further promote talent and skills mobility,” he said.

The AfDB president expressed support for the African Passport Initiative, which is being championed by the African Union.

"We must eventually move to the Africa passport that allows Africans to move freely across Africa,” Adesina said.

Giving insights on the magnitude of the challenge, Adesinsa told of a conversation he had with Nigerian Aliko Dangote.

"Dangote told me at the Africa CEO forum that he needed to go to some African countries but they would not let him in. If you cannot let in Africa’s richest man just because of a minor visa issue, it shows the underlying problem,” Adesina said.

From a business perspective, John Mirenge, the chief executive of RwandAir, said opening the continent to Africans would further develop businesses such as the airline industry as it increases traffic.

Mirenge dismissed claims that opening a country’s border leads to influx of immigrants, citing Rwanda, which in 2014 opened up to African travellers by issuing visas upon entry, as a case-in-point.

"There are not a million foreigners swarming the country to stay illegally, it has only made us have more value for business. Today, you can pick up passengers who are transiting through Kigali and they can stay for a day or two and proceed for business,” Mirenge said.

He added that the current state of affairs, coupled with limited open skies for African airlines, have at times caused African operators to face unfair competition from airlines outside Africa as some of them have more access to African skies.

Carlos Lopes, the executive secretary of the UN Commission for Africa, said despite the proclamations of Pan-Africanism, the tale of free movement has not been a good one.

Africans, Lopes said, are the worst when it comes to expulsion of fellow Africans, noting that the quest for intra-Africa trade can be supported by developments such as opening up borders for free movement of people and services.

He added that increased free movement of people would also open up markets.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw