The ECOWAS Parliament has pledged to ensure that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) delivers tangible trade and economic benefits for West Africa. Its President, Hadja Mémounatou Ibrahima, made the remarks on Monday during the opening of the First Extraordinary Session of 2026 in Abuja.

Ibrahima emphasised that the Parliament’s role is not merely advisory but decisive in turning AfCFTA into a “lever for structural transformation” across the region. She called on lawmakers to move beyond protocols and ensure measurable outcomes that strengthen regional integration.

“ECOWAS cannot merely accompany this process. It must lead, coordinate, and harmonise it,” Ibrahima said, describing the trade pact as “a historic opportunity to make our region an integrated, prosperous, and resilient economic power.”

While highlighting that West Africa has averaged about five per cent growth over the past decade and established frameworks such as a common external tariff and regional payment systems, she expressed concern that intra-regional trade remains below 10 per cent of total trade.

She called on parliamentarians to harmonise legal frameworks, remove non-tariff barriers, oversee community resource use, and ensure integration remains socially inclusive. Ibrahima expressed confidence that the session would produce “clear orientations, actionable recommendations, and transformative resolutions” for regional development.

In a goodwill message, Godswill Akpabio, President of the Nigerian Senate, described the session as pivotal for West Africa’s future. He warned that democratic instability and global economic pressures demand a united regional response.

“In such a world, survival does not belong to the isolated. It belongs to the organised. It rewards the united,” Akpabio said, urging member states to align national laws with regional commitments and produce visible outcomes from integration.

He also called for regional industrialisation: “Let us refine our minerals here, process our cocoa here, and assemble our machinery here. If we do not industrialise together, we shall remain suppliers of raw hope to the factories of others.”

Akpabio further noted that insecurity remains a major obstacle. “Where instability flourishes, trade withers,” he added, underlining the need for collective efforts to secure peace and prosperity in the region.