Facilitating Regional Integration through Free Movement of People in Africa: Progress, Challenges and Prospects

African regional integration has seen a multiplicity of efforts being made to overcome barriers that impede the free movement of goods and services. The free movement of people is one of the cornerstones and pillars of regional integration in Africa as it promotes tourism, intra-African trade, investment, labour mobility and skills circulation, employment creation and foster social integration on the continent. Although there may be identifiable achievements since the Abuja Treaty of 1991, such as the African Union Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment; African Charter on Human and People's Rights; and the Migration Policy Framework for Africa and the free movement of people, the continent is still confronted with a myriad of constraints. Using the African Development Bank's Africa Visa Openness Index; the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's African Regional Integration Index, as well as qualitative analysis of a wide array of relevant reports and literature; this paper seeks to assess the collective progress achieved and challenges faced in facilitating regional integration through the free movement of people on the continent. The concept of Free Movement of People was used for conceptual analysis. The paper recommended strategic interventions at national, regional and continental levels, that may assist to accelerate the implementation of policy instruments meant to facilitate the free movement of people on the continent to accelerate African regional integration and create a 'continent with seamless borders' envisaged by the African Union's Agenda 206