As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement takes off, the National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Iju Tony Nwabunike has said that he is yet to be convinced that Nigeria is prepared to take part in the continent-wide trade.
Nwabunike who stated this in an interview with newsmen in Lagos on Thursday recalled that Nigeria was one of the last countries in Africa to sign the agreement and given that they were the last, they were not prepared till today even as he noted that Nigeria closed her borders till this year.
He said, ”So, I can’t understand and I will not want to believe that Nigeria is prepared for it but let us assume that we are going to do magic because it is going to be an open thing. Just as of few days ago, the Nigeria Customs Service is still asking NAC for the procedures, their roles and the list of duty and charges. So, Nigeria would have since one year ago been in the forefront of what AfCFTA supposed to be.
“So, when you talk about African economy, can Nigeria not be part of it? So, why should the Nigeria Customs Service asking such questions as at today whereas a committee has been set up by the federal government of Nigeria? When we talk about putting round peg in round hole but when you begin to politicize everything using politicians to tackle economic matters, this is the kind of result you get.”
He argued that the federal government by now should be much prepared on human capacity development adding that it should be prepared on the line of products it wanted to showcase.
“If you ask me today, I will tell you that even South Africa has not less than 20 products, Egypt is having a whole lot of products to showcase even furniture and kitchen utensils. If you talk about Morocco, it can give you enough capacity on sardines and tomatoes but what can we now give as our product?
“Despite the fact that Nigeria is blessed with some amount of natural resources like Sesame, Cashew nuts and all the rest of them, we should even go back to palm kernel and all the rest of them. But apart from that, can we be very boastful about a particular product that can put Nigeria at advantage in this trade?
“And again, people are scared about Nigeria becoming a dumping ground because Nigeria is having the highest population in Africa, about 250 million people but they don’t have the product, even the little ones they have cannot satisfy their population. And other African countries are targeting two things; a place where the population is and a place where there is no product and if you look at this place, you will find out that Nigeria is a virgin ground for them to dump. So, what is our measure to checkmate those things?
“However, they can focus attention to some places like Aba where there are over one hundred small industries producing stuffs like shoes, handkerchief, toiletries and the rest of them as a catchment area and encourage those small manufacturers so that they can do more. Some are doing building materials, yes, those things, they can encourage them”, he stated.
On the preparedness of the licensed customs agents for the continental trade, the ANLCA boss observed that “Today, we are talking about the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, it is going to open door for all the 57 member countries that have signed the agreement and these African countries are ready to trade along borderless nations. So, the issue is that we are going to have a more robust business this year. We are going to have a more interactive economy this year and we have been talking to each other. I have some group of people I have talked to in Ghana and some are in Angola and these are areas I want us to synergize together but the question is, Is Nigeria ready for this trade?
“So, while we are positioning ourselves for wonderful 2021 maritime year, we are ready to showcase what we have as a product to face the challenges of other African countries on AfCFTA.”
Photo: The National President of ANLCA, Chief Iju Tony Nwabunike.
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