by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – RENOWNED American economist Professor Jeffrey Sachs has renewed calls for Africa’s 55 countries to unite into a powerful continental economy, arguing that integration could transform the continent’s economic, political and social fortunes.
Sachs says Africa’s roughly 1.5 billion people represent a market on the scale of China and India but remain divided into 55 states.
He argues that while individual countries struggle to achieve development at scale, a unified African economy could wield enormous global influence.
The proposal goes beyond creating a larger market.
Deeper African integration could reduce trade barriers, expand intra-African commerce, encourage continent-wide industrialisation and enable African businesses to operate across borders with fewer obstacles.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is already moving in this direction by creating the world’s largest free-trade area by number of participating countries.
A politically integrated Africa could also negotiate with greater collective strength on trade, climate change, security, technology, debt and global governance.
A common foreign policy could give African states a stronger voice in international institutions, while continental infrastructure projects could connect markets, ports, energy systems and people more efficiently.
Socially, freer movement could expand opportunities for Africans to study, work, invest and settle across the continent.
A stronger continental education system could facilitate the movement of skills and knowledge, while coordinated healthcare and security policies could improve citizens’ quality of life.
The idea has long been championed by Pan-African activists.
Former African Union ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao has advocated an African Central Bank, single currency, monetary policy and eventually a United States of Africa, arguing that continental integration is essential to Africa’s future.
Kenyan Pan-Africanist Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba has similarly promoted deeper economic integration, including the case for reducing the financial barriers created by multiple currencies.
Zimbabwean philosopher Joshua Maponga has called for Africans to overcome colonial-era borders, arguing that a united continent could create a vast market, stronger workforce and greater global economic influence.
South African politician and Pan-Africanist Julius Malema has repeatedly advocated a borderless Africa with one president, parliament, currency and military command.
Social media reactions to Sachs’ remarks have likewise shown strong support for the idea, with African users describing unity as essential to escaping fragmentation and building continental self-reliance.
Yet creating one African state would be enormously complex, requiring countries to negotiate sovereignty, governance, taxation, monetary policy, security and constitutional arrangements.
Sachs himself acknowledges the political challenge, but maintains that Africa’s scale makes unity indispensable.
For many Pan-Africanists, therefore, the vision is clear: one Africa, increasingly borderless, economically integrated and capable of speaking with one powerful voice in the world.
– CAJ News