As preparations towards the eventual take off of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement gather momentum, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria has said that one of the conditions Nigeria must meet in order to reap bountifully from the agreement is to establish laboratories that will begin to identify, name products as well as give out their chemical compositions.
The National Executive Director of CILT Nigeria, Mr. Paul Ndibe who made this assertion in an event held in Lagos recently observed that although the AfCFTA seemed to be the new attractive sector in the logistics and transport industry, the issue had been Nigeria’s ill preparedness for the opportunity that was coming adding that if we cannot compete with the Americans on manufactured products, what of the agricultural products?
He argued that “We can even up within the African continent, our own products, have we established laboratories that can identify the chemical combinations of the products? How do you lift them? Have you identified the number of firms from where you get these products?
“So, in international trade, each commodity has a particular number that you can just swap and then it gives you the entire background history of the product. We have not actually started laying the foundation for classification of these products in terms of their chemical composition. So, if you put up a product and they want to know the chemical composition, they are not there.
“So, one of the things Nigeria must do is to establish these laboratories that will begin to identify and name these products and then give out their chemical compositions.”
The National Executive Director further pointed out that the issue of intermodalism was a very serious issue which according to him could be blamed on the absence of policy.
“Somebody had earlier identified the issue of the absence of the National Transport Commission bill, the new railway bill, Ports and Harbours bill, they are all policy instruments that would have helped to shape the industry but they are not there and that highlights my earlier concern, rule of engagement. If you have this rule of engagement, you might be able to put out these things. It is not just going to the Minister’s office to knock at the doors; it will just stop there if you are lucky to be given attention. But if you have a rule of engagement that everybody knows and understands and key into, it will help to remove all the doubts and be able to challenge each and every one of us.
“Look at the time Nigeria loss in trying to consider whether or not they will reach out to Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement. While others are taking bold steps to start to develop the infrastructure expected of them to take opportunities, we are still struggling to define our capacity for that. It doesn’t call for that.
“When we signed, we were the 63rd country out of 65 and $44.8 billion projection from the European Union, African Development Bank projected their own and they were waiting for people to come with proposals on the development of infrastructure bedrock for taking opportunity offered by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement but it took us how many months to arrive at that because of poor information flow.
“So, these are the issues and it is not something that you just start off and end, we really have to take the bold step of making these arguments where they can be heard and getting the private sector to be truly involved in attempt to reshape the economy of the country.
“And finally, confident must be given to the private sector, the financial institutions. We are not thinking of foreign direct investments anymore and if they are coming, is it in what direction? But the policy framework has to be there and who will lay the policy framework? Of course, the government. So, all the issues we need that government must address, we have to articulate them and present them through a forum that the government can listen and be able to take action on it”, he submitted.
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