Nubi’s journey is remarkable as she is the first Black woman to solo-drive the 10,000 kilometres from London to Lagos. The extensive documentation of the trip on social media helped shed light on the rich and beautiful cultures in West Africa and the realities of intra-ECOWAS travel. Only a year before, Kunle Adeyanju, a Nigerian professional motorcyclist, rode a motorbike from London to Lagos within 41 days to raise money for polio. Journeying through 17 or 13 countries is newsworthy; the visibility does more for ECOWAS citizens by highlighting the realities of simply crossing from one border to another for leisure, tourism, and most importantly trade.
In a January 2024 podcast interview, Nubi noted that she had been planning this trip since September 2022. Despite her meticulous planning, she encountered a series of issues in exercising her right to free entry. At the Senegalese border, she, or rather Lumi, was denied entry. Customs officials informed her that she was free to enter but that she required a carnet de passage for her car. This document attests that the vehicle will not remain in the territory for longer than the 90-day window. The Free Movement Protocol, understanding how crucial the movement of vehicles is to free entry, makes provisions for the entry of private and commercial vehicles in the territory of member states provided that there is some documentation. Nubi and Lumi were finally given the green light after negotiating the fee quoted by customs for the document.
While entry is free in principle, in practice, it is not. Corruption is rife at borders. In a 2022 essay on free movement within the ECOWAS region, migration experts, Faisal Garba and Thomas Yeboah, highlighted that extortion and harassment of migrants at West Africa’s borders is one of the greatest challenges to free movement. Besides her experience in Senegal, Nubi also had difficulty entering Côte d’Ivoire. Border officials requested she pay CFA 60,000 which she refused to do unless an official receipt was given. This led to her waiting at the border for over nine hours before finally being granted entry. Member states have the right to refuse entry to ECOWAS citizens on the basis of them being inadmissible migrants. However, this is different from charging a separate fee akin to a visa fee, especially when citizens already possess valid travel documents.
The validity and recognition of travel documents also impede entry. For instance, to ensure ease of movement, Ghana and Sierra Leone harmonized immigration procedures and travel documents by adopting the 1985 ECOWAS travel certificate and the immigration and emigration forms. Hence, community citizens should be able to use travel certificates and the carte d’identité. However, there is a lack of awareness of its existence among many citizens and officials that even when used, it has been rejected by Ghanaian border officials who only acknowledge the ECOWAS passport.
Security challenges limit the freedom of movement. In conversation with Jola Ayeye and FK Abudu, hosts of the I Said What I Said podcast in April 2024, Nubi mentioned that although she had planned an entire tour of West Africa, she did not go through Burkina Faso due to the recent coup. The levels of insecurity across the region also create the need for heightened border measures, which can restrict the ease with which movement and trade occur. Europe’s interest in curbing migration from West Africa has led to increased border posts, which affects people’s ability to move freely.
These obstacles are heightened in the case of informal migration at land borders. Many community citizens frequently traverse borders for trade or as part of keeping connection with their ethnic groups that are dispersed across member states. When citizens do not possess the right documents and are unaware of their rights, they can be made to pay huge sums. Many citizens possess some form of identification, but the lack of passports among citizens crossing borders opens them up to exploitation by officers. Informal movement and informal trade are the norm in ECOWAS, yet there has been little attempt to address this informality by meeting citizens where they are.
Due to the challenges of asserting her right to entry, Nubi slept at three land borders—Liberia, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. In Liberia, she needed the intervention of the Nigerian embassy to aid her movement. While the embassy is carrying out its duty of helping its nationals abroad, this does not happen for the millions of community citizens that cross intra-ECOWAS borders yearly. Nubi had a highly documented journey with a lot of support on social media, which already gave her leverage in crossing through or gaining assistance from her home state. As a leisure traveller, she also had a greater luxury of time. For many who cross the border, there is no embassy or chargé d’affaires to come to their aid, no choice of sleeping at the border, and no option but to yield to the whims of the almighty power of border officials. For them, there is a monetary price for freedom.