The West African private sector considers it necessary to set up an objective alliance to fight against illegal trade and its numerous consequences.

The vice-president of the National Confederation of Employers of Senegal (Cnes), Mr. Aboubacar Sedikhe Sy announced it at the launch of the works of the high-level meeting that his organization opened on Tuesday, June 26 in Dakar.

A meeting attended by the private sectors of Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.

According to him, more and more companies are threatened by creeping computerization of certain channels of marketing or production that escape regulation and destabilize licit distribution channels.

More worryingly, he points out, these mafia networks are more likely to target high-value sensitive products, which are also revenue-generating products.

An almost unavoidable option when Nigeria estimates 150 thousand jobs because of illegal trade.

In Ivory Coast, factories like UNIWAX are forced to close because of counterfeiting.

In the same vein, Mr. Joseph Emoleke, Deputy Director Manufacturers Association of Nigeria believes that a rescue mission is needed in the face of the scale of the damage caused by the illegal trade.

"It's time to act! He exclaimed that this initiative by CNES is a way of meeting the challenge: "the duty to say no! ".

A stance that is imperative as long as, he says, with these phenomena our governments record loss of income and lives are threatened.

What makes Mr. Amadou Mahtar Ba, CEO of AllAfrica Global Media say that tackling the illegal trade, is to face an economic, human and societal problem.

If we know that the phenomenon is estimated at more than 50 billion US dollars, representing more than the African Development Aid.