The MP for Suhum Frederic Opare Ansah has advised member nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to trade among themselves to achieve economic integration.
The legislator argued that inter-trading among member states will lead to massive “trade volumes” amongst them which will in the long-run cause a decline in their expenditure on external trade.
“Your [ECOWAS members] core revenue is based on imports, and so if Nigeria stops importing salt from Brazil and now imports salt from Ghana into their country… you are no longer charging ECOWAS levy on internal imports – then your revenue on exports will be reduced,” Mr. Ansah told Morning Starr host Francis Abban.
“…So I suggested to them that we [member countries] may need to begin to look at possibilities of other things either than the ECOWAS import levy as a source of income,” he noted.
Also, Mr. Ansah advocated for lower tariffs on mobile communication charges to enhance communication among citizens of member countries.
“…Why should I roam on MTN on my MTN line when I go to Abuja, why shouldn’t it be a local call,” he said.
“If you make it a local call for me and ask me to pay a little cent on that to ECOWAS…I will feel free to do so.”