Monrovia, Liberia – Though significant obstacles to visa-free travel still exist in many nations, more Africans than ever before are able to travel freely around the continent. The 2024 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) report, launched at the African Economic Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, on November 25, 2024, highlighted progress in easing travel restrictions across the continent, but significant barriers remain.
Positioned alongside intra-African travel, the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Development Bank (AfDB) study tracks the visa regulations of 54 nations to evaluate the freedom of movement of Africans within the continent.
Compared to 20% in 2016, 28% of intra-African travel is now visa-free, according to the 2024 study. Furthermore, 47% of trips still need visas prior to departure, a little rise from the previous year, while 25% of travel permits visas upon arrival.
With visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to all African countries, Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda, and Seychelles top the Index, according to the research. According to the survey, ECOWAS has the highest regional score (0.629), followed by SADC (0.547). Notably, Sierra Leone had the most improvement, enabling nationals of 15 nations to enter without a visa, up from 13 the previous year.
In order to promote commerce, tourism, and mobility and to encourage a dynamic socioeconomic trajectory, the research suggests increasing the availability of inexpensive e-visa systems, improving reciprocity, and abolishing travel restrictions. Africa’s attempts to create seamless borders are crucial to realizing the continent’s goal of economic growth and unity as outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
The African Visa Openness Index, which was presented by Ms. Zodwa Mabuza, Principal Regional Integration Officer at the African Development Bank, measures the annual progress that nations make in granting Africans the freedom to travel within the continent.
Despite the advancements, Ms. Mabuza stated: “There is hope, but we still have a long way to go to improve mobility across the continent. There has been greater progress since the AVOI Report was first released in 2016.
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Dr. Francis Nguendi Ikome, Chief of the Regional Integration Section of the Regional Integration and Trade Division, “Goods and services do not move on their own.” People are what make trading possible. Thus, facilitating the free movement of Africans is crucial to the effective execution of the AfCFTA and the achievement of its maximum potential.
He also draws attention to the oddity between the African governments’ eagerness for market integration which is demonstrated by the AfCFTA’s quick signature, ratification, and continuous implementation and their conflicting views regarding allowing people to travel freely. He called this a concerning trend and pointed out that the high levels of informality in African commerce are a result of limits on people’s freedom of movement.
Dr. Ikome argued that by removing these obstacles, informal commerce would be incorporated into the formal sector and take advantage of AfCFTA potential.
The African Union Commission’s Head of Employment, Labour, and Migration, Dr. Sabelo Mbokazi, emphasized that the AVOI measures how well migration policies promote commerce, tourism, and skill mobility.
“The AVOI provides foresight, insight and hindsight into human mobility, a determinant of an endogenous stimulus for an integrated Africa towards the ultimate success of the AfCFTA,” according to him.
Speaking on African migration, Dr. Falilou Fall, Deputy Head of Economics at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), stated that because of cross-border migration, there is a problem with mistargeting and excessive regulations.
“Those flying are not most likely to migrate. If the concern is security, regulation must be adjusted against the target and the people,” he added.
Dr. Joy Kategekwa, the Bank’s Director of Regional Integration, encouraged attendees to distribute the report throughout Africa and have policy discussions in order to advance the agenda in her final remarks. “Today, you and I are launching a movement. We support the migration of Africans within Africa through this movement. Every one of you will testify about the progress we have accomplished as a result of our advocacy for free movement when we launch the 10th edition of AVOI next year,” she said.
In order to fully realize the promise of the AfCFTA and promote a united, prosperous Africa, it is imperative that obstacles to free movement of people be removed as the continent progresses toward deeper integration.
