Fed Govt reviews challenges of AfCFTA

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has started preparation to lead the country into African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) 2021.

Secretary, National Action Committee on AFCFTA and Senior Special Adviser to the President on Public Sector Matters, Francis Anatogu, said the continental trade provides preferential access to Africa market worth over $650billion in mostly manufactured goods and services, which aligns with the nation’s twin national objectives of industrialisation and export base diversification.

According to him, trade under AfCFTA regime was initially planned to commence on July 1, this year but has been shifted to January next year due to COVID-19 pandemic, which stalled the negotiations on the Phase I built-in agenda.

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Nigeria signed up to the AfCFTA Agreement on July 7, last year after a rigorous nationwide stakeholder consultation and assessment of the impacts and our readiness.

He raised some of the concerns on the AFCTA as including the threat of rise in abuses of rules of origin, smuggling, reduction in federation revenue, depletion of manufacturing and infant industries.

In furtherance of its mandate, the workstream on Rules of Origin, Border Management and Trade Rules Enforcement have been reviewed in detail to safeguard requirements to mitigate the above-mentioned potential threats.

Besides the development of a national AfCFTA strategy, the Secretariat of the National Action Committee has embarked on sensitisation of MDAs and industry associations to explain the implications of the AfCFTA Agreements and their roles in the implementation.