The Nigerian government has said it will sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) at the upcoming Extraordinary Summit of the African Union in the Nigerien capital city, Niamey. The extraordinary summit is expected to hold on July 7.
Africa’s most populous abstained from signing the agreement initially, saying it was weighing the effects it will have on its economy.
“Nigeria is signing the #AfCFTA Agreement after extensive domestic consultations,” the government said in a tweet.
African Union’s commissioner for trade and industry Albert Muchanga said Nigeria ratifying the agreement is a “good and important development.”
AfCFTA came into effect in March with 52 out of 55 countries backing the policy. Two countries – Eritrea and Benin are yet to sign the agreement.
Being the continent’s biggest market and bedevilled by porous and poorly manned borders, Nigeria is wary it may become a dumping ground for all sorts of goods, especially those not made in Africa.
Officially confirmed! #Nigeria to sign the #AfCFTA Agreement during Niger Extra-Ordinary Summit in few days. Good and important development. Two more to go and an All Africa Market will start shaping up. pic.twitter.com/gWw116JHT7
— Amb. Albert Muchanga (@AmbMuchanga) July 2, 2019
It said it is “focused on taking advantage of ongoing negotiations to secure the necessary safeguards against smuggling, dumping and other risks/threats.”
Nigerian government agreed to sign the agreement after a panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari in March gave AfCFTA a positive nod.
“Our reports show that, on balance, Nigeria should consider joining the AfCFTA”, the panel’s chair, Desmond Guobadia, said in a statement to the president Thursday
However, the report of the panel warned that the agreement is fraught with “major risks,” including smuggling and deliberate labelling of products made outside the continent as made in Africa.
STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT BUHARI TO SIGN AfCFTA
President @MBuhari has approved the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area, #AfCFTA agreement. #Thread
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) July 3, 2019
By this, he will be signing the Phase one of the agreement in the course of his attendance at the Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union and 12th Extraordinary Summit on AfCFTA in Niamey, Niger Republic in a few days’ time.
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) July 3, 2019
“The risk is that it will provide an incentive for traders to disguise goods imported from outside the continent as made-in-Africa goods”, the report warned.
President Buhari told the panel, after receiving its report, that African countries must scale up their manufacturing capacity for the continent-wide trade policy to succeed, noting that his government’s vision of intra-African trade is for the free movement of made in Africa goods.
“For AfCFTA to succeed, we must develop policies that promote African production, among other benefits,” Buhari said in Abuja last Thursday.
“Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy but also a continental manufacturing agenda.”
