Business

AfCFTA: Media group brings together stakeholders to brainstorm on Nigeria’s readiness

African heads of state at the launching of AFCFTA

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The numerous benefits of the unfolding African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA), to Nigeria shall be well reviewed as stakeholders meet in Lagos on Wednesday 16 June, 2021.

The stakeholders in the AfCFTA drawn from international business moguls, corporate and maritime world shall be meeting at this year 3rd Annual Lecture and Awards of the renowned online media platform, “Prime Reporter”.

The event which shall hold at the National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos at 10.00am prompt shall be anchored on the theme: “Assessing Nigeria’s Preparedness to Maximize the Gains of AfCFTA.”

The 2021 Lecture and Awards events would be chaired by a renowned legal practitioner, Barr. Osuala Emmanuel Nwagbara of the Maritime and Commercial Law Partners, Lagos while the Director General, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf would be the lead paper presenter.

In a release made available to Nation Update, the Managing Director/ Editor-In-Chief of Primetime Reporters, Mr. Saint Augustine Nwadinamuo, the Secretary, National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Mr. Francis Anatogu would be the special guest of honour.

The gathering he said would afford Anatogu the opportunity to update Nigerians on the progress made so far.

Earlier in the year, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Attah noted that instead of proceeding in a chaotic manner, the NCS as policy implementor understood the importance of spelling out the roles and responsibilities of all parties in the agreement and the conditions attendant on its implementation.

Attah in re-confirming the willingness and readiness of the Service to play its role as trade facilitators in this regard, reminded the public that the functions of the NCS were highly automated and primarily systems driven hence the need to methodically harvest and integrate all data associated with AfCFTA into its system for easy deployment, access and use by the trading public.

The spokesperson stated that it awaits the National Action Committee (NAC) on the list of duties and charges waived for liberalized goods under AfCFTA, the list of the 90% liberalized National Trade Offers, the list of 70% Non-liberalized exclusive goods at the regional level, the list of 3% Non-Liberalized sensitive goods, as well as the appointment of a competent Authority responsible for issuing and authenticating certificates of origin and registering enterprises and products within the region.

“While awaiting clear directives concerning tariffs for all goods covered by this agreement, we want to assure the public of our preparedness to fully deploy our services at the shortest notice. Our desire is to imbue trust in the system while guaranteeing the economic safety and wellbeing of businesses within the country.

Attah

“We look with optimism to an era of complete economic integration which will lead to growth and prosperity for businesses within the region”, he said.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area founded in 2018, with trade commencing as of 1 January 2021. It was created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union nations. The free-trade area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

The Federal Executive Council ratified Nigeria’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the 11th of November 2020. This occurs more than a year after Nigeria signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (the “Agreement”) in July 2019. The Agreement establishes a single market for goods and services across 54 countries, allows for the free movement of business travelers and investments, and creates a unified customs union to streamline trade on the continent.

The trade is anticipated to reduce poverty in the region, boost income by 7% or $450 billion, speed up wage growth for women, and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035.

The AfCFTA Agreement expected to come into effect on the 1st of January 2021, even as full implementation of the Agreement may take some time as countries would have to negotiate aspects of the Agreement such as trade, dispute settlement processes, tariffs and intellectual property rights.