Accra: Private Legal Practitioner, Ace Anan Ankomah, has called on African governments to dismantle the continent's borders to facilitate intra-trade and harness Africa's resources to develop interconnected infrastructure. Delivering a speech at the close of the 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogues, the lawyer emphasized the need for African nations to abolish colonial-era borders that hinder unity and progress.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr. Ankomah criticized the continent's approach of policing internal borders while allowing outsiders to exploit Africa's wealth, describing it as "fragmentation masquerading as independence." He traced the root of the continent's divisions to the 1884-85 Berlin Conference, where European powers partitioned Africa without its representation, impacting its developmental trajectory.
Mr. Ankomah highlighted the challenges faced in regional travel, citing a trip from Accra to Lom© that required multiple documents despite the ECOWAS protocol guaranteeing free movement among member states. He urged for dismantling artificial borders to unlock Africa's prosperity, calling for a development framework focused on self-reliance, local capabilities, and industrial growth.
He emphasized the importance of Africa not missing the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions, which focus on advanced manufacturing and human-centric innovation, respectively. He expressed optimism about technology's potential to help Africa bypass historical delays by leveraging homegrown solutions.
Mr. Ankomah advocated for creating innovation incubators on campuses to bridge university research with industry and capital. He urged governments to protect intellectual property and transform research into enterprise, making science and engineering attractive and rewarding fields.
He concluded by stressing the urgency for Africa's 1.6 billion people to implement locally generated solutions, asserting that Africa must not be left behind in the global fight against poverty.