The Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has called on West African leaders to embrace digital payment platforms as a practical step toward deepening trade within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Kalu said the region must move beyond prolonged debates over a common currency.
Speaking on the sidelines of regional economic discussions, Kalu said intra-African trade within ECOWAS remains significantly lower than expected, despite years of integration efforts.
According to him, while Africa’s trade with other parts of the world has seen about a 16 per cent increase in 2025, trade among ECOWAS member states stands at roughly 11 percent.
This, he said ought not to be so, attributing the weak performance to poor infrastructure and bureaucratic bottlenecks at border points.
Read more: https://von.gov.ng/kalu-pushes-for-digital-payments-in-west-african-trade/
