2025 WAES: Regional integration crucial for West Africa’s economic future

Nigeria’s regional trade dominance is hampered by infrastructure and policy issues. The 2025 West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) highlighted the need for digital identity, youth potential, and private sector partnerships to boost intra-ECOWAS trade and integration.

One of the major obstacles to intra-regional trade is the difficulty individuals and small businesses face in verifying their identity across borders, leading to transactional friction, limited access to formal financial services, and lack of trust in cross-border operations. Many believe that a unified, interoperable digital identity infrastructure will serve as the foundation upon which seamless trade, payment interoperability, and cross-border services can be built.

Reports from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) shows only 10–15 per cent of trade is intra-regional, informal commerce could raise that figure significantly. Annual trade within ECOWAS averages about USD 208 billion, with Nigeria accounting for roughly 76 per cent of regional flows. Institutions like ECOWAS, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and initiatives such as the West African Competitiveness Observatory aim to reduce trade barriers and harmonise customs procedures.

These were the points raised at the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit (WAES), while driving a deeper conversation about West Africa’s trade reality. As part of efforts to ensure a sustainable economic development, adequate identity has been recognized as a critical component in facilitating access to financial services, promoting trade, and fostering economic growth in West Africa.

Digital identity strengthens trade by making the informal visible, reducing fraud, and enabling access to financial services, logistics, and government programs across national boundaries. A unified digital identity system is an economic and developmental imperative to regional growth.

When citizens can move across borders with a recognised and verifiable identity, they can trade, access services, establish trust in new markets, and participate meaningfully in regional growth. Digital identity strengthens trade by making the informal visible, reducing fraud, and enabling access to financial services, logistics, and government programs across national boundaries.