Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network
A continent-wide, people-driven campaign aimed at dismantling barriers to the free movement of Africans is set to be launched in Accra in February 2026.
The initiative, dubbed “Make Africa Borderless Now!”, will be formally unveiled at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) 2026 and seeks to mobilise more than 10 million signatures across Africa and its global diaspora in support of visa-free travel, open skies and deeper continental integration.
According to the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the signatures will be presented to African Heads of State at the 40th African Union Summit scheduled for February 2027 in Addis Ababa.
Mr. Otchere-Darko said the campaign aims to transform African integration from a long-standing political aspiration into a mass public demand driven by citizens, particularly young people.
Drawing parallels with the global Jubilee 2000 (Drop the Debt) campaign of the 1990s, in which he participated, Mr. Otchere-Darko expressed confidence that the movement could achieve its ambitious target.
He noted that the Jubilee 2000 campaign successfully gathered 24 million signatures worldwide without the benefit of modern digital tools.
“If it was possible to mobilise millions across the world in the 1990s with pen and paper, radio and fax machines, then mobilising 10 million Africans today in a digitally connected continent is achievable,” he said.
The Make Africa Borderless Now! campaign will be led by the Africa Prosperity Network in collaboration with key Pan-African institutions and partners, including the AfCFTA Secretariat, the African Development Bank (AfDB), AUDA-NEPAD, BADEA and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
The Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2026, scheduled for February 4–6 at the Accra International Conference Centre, will be held under the patronage of President John Dramani Mahama.
Organisers say the movement will rely heavily on digital platforms and grassroots mobilisation, engaging businesses, traders, civil society groups, labour unions, faith-based organisations, traditional authorities, youth groups and cultural influencers across the continent and in the diaspora.
At the core of the campaign is a twelve-pillar roadmap designed to accelerate the implementation of existing African Union agreements and protocols.
Key proposals include visa-free travel across Africa, the liberalisation of air routes, a continental biometric passport, a single African customs union, harmonised trade standards, seamless digital payments, trans-African infrastructure corridors and stronger legal mechanisms to enforce a single African market.
The campaign also emphasises the central role of women and youth in Africa’s integration agenda and calls for a unified African voice in global negotiations.
Mr. Otchere-Darko said the initiative comes at a critical moment, as global migration restrictions tighten and African institutions increasingly warn of the economic costs of internal border barriers.
He argued that free movement within Africa is essential for economic resilience, self-determination and long-term prosperity.
“This is about Africans demanding the freedom to move, trade and innovate within their own continent,” he said.
“A borderless Africa is no longer just an idea; it is a necessity.”
The organisers are urging Africans at home and abroad to participate in the campaign when it launches in 2026 by signing, sharing and mobilising in support of continental integration.
