AfCFTA Update: 5 More Countries To Go...Nigeria Will Be Left Behind

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which was signed by a number of African countries in March, 2018 is almost set to take off. Out of the 55 countries in Africa, about 49 countries have signed the agreement already and out of the 49 countries, 17 of them have ratified and deposited it with the A.U commission and we have just 5 countries left to commence the implementation of the agreement because 22 countries are required to ratify the agreement before it fully takes effect on the African soil. 

This is the largest continental free trade agreement ever signed in the world and it is very sad to say that Nigeria’s government have refused to sign this agreement and thereby leaving Nigeria out of the proposed largest market in the world. The concerns of the Federal government of Nigeria is the issue raised by the Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN) and some other organised private sectors which are not a strong position in the sense that issues raised are based on their ignorance of the details of the AfCFTA. This is because the agreement provides safe guards that are supposed to protect every country so they don’t become a dumping ground. 

The rule of origin in this agreement requires 60% input from member states and this is to ensure that goods from other continent outside Africa do not find their way into the Nigeria market. The concern of many is that Nigeria is the largest market in Africa and everybody is looking towards Nigeria and that is why MAN has refused to allow the government to sign the agreement.

If you take a clue from the free trade signed in West Africa, that is the Ecowas Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), Nigeria is the major beneficiary of this agreement in among the member states in West Africa. With this in mind, we can conclude that if Nigeria signs the AfCFTA, Nigeria would still be a major beneficiary of this agreement because the last episode of recession has woken Nigeria up to the fact that we need to begin to produce for export.  

We would like to call on the incoming government to make the signing of the AfCFTA a priority for so as to ensure the Nigerian business people are not left out of the biggest proposed largest free trade area in the world.

Bamidele Ayemibo

bayemibo@3timpex.com