…Seeks lots of engagement on the part of private sector
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on individual players in the Nigerian economy to as a matter of urgency develop their own individual business strategy to enable them participate effectively in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as there is a very sound business case for it.
The Director-General of LCCI, Dr. Muda Yusuf who made this call while delivering a lecture titled, “Accessing Nigeria’s Preparedness to Maximize the Gains of AfCFTA” at an event to mark the 3rd Annual Lecture and Awards Ceremony of the Primetime Reporters in Lagos on Wednesday argued that with a population of about 1.2 billion and the continental Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about $3.4 trillion, the market was indeed big.
Yusuf recalled that a Readiness and Impact Assessment Committee was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to look at the readiness issues adding that the committee submitted its report on readiness issues around the ports, aviation, road, power and around all the problems that investors were facing.
“The report has been submitted, the situation has not changed, nothing is even happening, the situation even getting worse”, he said.
The DG noted that in matters like this, there were external issues as well as internal issues saying “When I say external, I mean external to business because we are talking about investment. There are also internal issues also to business because as an entrepreneur, when you are faced with a challenge, there are some variable you cannot control because if you are waiting until we fix power, the customs, the ports, the roads before we do any business, we will not do any business.
He therefore urged individual players to look at how they could take advantage of that within the constraints that they face and just assume that those external problems were not likely to change.
“How do we now move forward and come on with our strategy? That for me is a more pragmatic way of dealing with these issues” he added.
While stating that AfCFTA was going to benefit some countries more than others just as it would paralyze some countries more than others, he opined that some businesses may even go online by the time Nigeria has a deluge of import from African countries that had better environment.
“Trust our Nigerian business people, they will go around Africa and shop for the cheapest of the products and the thing will land on our shores here. So, with this AfCFTA, it is easier to get things from South Africa, from Morocco, forget about whether it is being produced there after all they have been liberalized. Those things will land here and a lot of our domestic industries will struggle.
“So, there is need for a lot of engagement on the part of those of us that are private sector organizations, we will continue to do our engagements but I think that individual businesses will also need to sharpen our strategies. Some sectors will be more penalized than the others, some sectors will get it, some will lose. So, the reality is that under the AfCFTA regime, there will be winners and there will be losers.
“So, the opportunities are there just as I said, there is a lot of opportunities when you have a big market. There is what we call economies of scale, the bigger the market, the bigger your production, the lower your unit cost and the more competitive you are. So, it is likely that companies that are big in size that have the capacity to produce en masse will be in a better position to take advantage of this because as the volume grows, the unit price will drop and they will be more competitive. I am talking of production now and that is the reality because with all these issues around energy, around logistics, around ports, those problems are likely to be with us for some time.
“So, those who have the size, perhaps, may be able to do a lot better which is why even as we speak, they are the ones that are making some level of impacts even at the sub-regional level”, he further stated.
While rallying support for Secretary, National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Mr. Francis Anatogu, Yusuf noted that although he (Anatogu) is in the Presidency, he may need to put in extra effort to get the attention of those who make decision unless the stakeholders raise their voices.
In his words, “The Secretary here has limited powers, yes, he is in the presidency but you know there are people and there are people when it comes to government and unless people who are outside also raise their voices; that is when you can get support for him. The challenges they face, even to get funding to do sensitization, it wasn’t easy because when you are there, you need more than a very good concept on paper to get allocation, you need a lot more things for you to even get the ears of those who matter in government. So, they need our support to also do that.”
Photo: Director-General of LCCI, Dr. Muda Yusuf.
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