Ghana and other West African countries are not yet ripe for a common currency like Europe because of numerous trade barriers and other commercial challenges facing the region, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamiso, has said. Sanusi stated that with just 10 percent of trade transaction among the region, discussion on a common currency should be the "end gain." Ghana and Nigeria are leading the single currency drive which is expected to take off by 2015. In an interview with Daily Trust, a Nigerian newspaper, Sanusi said the common currency move for the region would take time before it happens. He said: "A common currency only makes sense after integration of the region. What is the trade between Nigerian and Gambia, between Nigeria and Ghana, between Nigeria and Burkina Faso? "What is the purpose of the currency when we have not yet built trade flow? We don't have free movement of goods and capital," the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria lamented. He said before imitating the Euro, it should be noted that 60 percent of the trade in Europe is within the European Union. Almost 50 percent of the total trade in the Southeast Asia is among countries of Asian nations. They don't have a common currency, Sanusi said, adding that for West Africa to overcome the barriers to trade, there was a need to improve the continent's industrial base. "We need to improve our own competitiveness, we need to have our specialization, we don't have common tariff," he said. According to him, in the last three months, not a single vessel landed in Lagos because of high tariff. "The vessel goes to Cotonou and they don't pay duty. We don't even have common border and common tariff. If you go back to Europe, they have what they call European Economic Community and it is a common trade area. "They first of all had a free trade zone and adopted common tariff policy. They have got to a point where the currencies were freely convertible," he stressed. Sanusi noted that there are so many intermediates steps that should be taken "but you know it is a typical African thing. The European had the Euro, therefore let us have a currency. But the currency is the end gain." He said as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he has to officially support the project. "But I think for it to make sense, we have to look at the trade issues, the capital flow issues, the tariff issues, immigration and border issues. We have to be, first of all, a true economic area," he said.