Pan-Africanists Condemn European Border Externalisation in Africa

A group of Pan-Africanists and migration scholars have criticised the growing externalisation of European border controls in Africa, warning that the policy is worsening the movement challenges faced by Africans both within and outside the continent.

The concerns were raised at an online webinar held on Saturday, September 5, 2026, where participants examined the implications of border externalisation for African migration and development.

Presenting the lead paper, titled: “Who controls Africa’s Borders? The EU’s Migration” a migration journalist and migration researcher Innocent Duru said European border externalisation had contributed to the dehumanisation of Africans attempting to migrate to Europe.

According to him, Africans travelling through the Sahel and North Africa, particularly those passing through Libya, face severe dangers and abuses in their attempts to reach Europe

A migration scholar at the event, Dr Ngozi Uzomah, traced the intensification of European border-control policies in Africa to around 2015. He argued that if Africans were increasingly being prevented from migrating outside the continent, they should at least be allowed to move freely within Africa.

The host of the webinar, Mr. Olusoji Ajao, linked the migration crisis to Africa’s economic challenges. He argued that European climate policies and the development priorities of Western agencies operating in Africa were not doing enough to promote large-scale industrialisation.

Ajao said the emphasis on small and medium-scale enterprises could not generate enough jobs for Africa’s rapidly growing unemployed population.

According to him, job creation was increasing at “arithmetic progression,” while unemployment was growing at “geometric progression,” warning that “something drastic has to be done” to address the continent’s migration and employment crises.