A lecturer at the Institute of Maritime Studies, University of Lagos, Mr. Chigozie Chikere has said that six months after trading began under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) commenced, Nigeria is already missing on the list of countries that are either trading or about to trade.
Chikere who made this observation known while reacting to the theme of the Annual Lecture and Awards “Assessing Nigeria’s Preparedness to Maximize the Gains of AfCFTA”, organized by Primetime Reporters in Lagos on Wednesday, noted that the sad news was that the National Action Committee on AfCFTA in Nigeria was yet to come up with a strategy.
He recalled that that it was as a result of this same lukewarm attitude that Nigeria lost the chance of hosting the AfCFTA secretariat to Ghana.
He added that “It is only a country that is running a well-defined protectionist tariff system that dilly dallies about matters of free trade” adding that “Not a country like Nigeria that is an import destination for almost every commodity.”
According to Chikere, “The funny part of it all is that the Buhari government is even closing borders against neighbours with whom Nigeria signed trade liberalisation agreements under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS). Confusion, I dare say.
“A cursory glance at Nigeria’s performance since it joined ETLS in 2005 shows an economy with a promising annual balance of trade. In other words, Nigeria’s most effective way of exporting more while still importing is by taking seriously its trade liberalisation and free trade agreements.
“A common knowledge of secondary school commerce would help anyone to know that a country that imports less should not expect to export more because other countries would retaliate. So, to cancel out its diminishing balance of trade, what such country does is to go into manufacturing with its local consumers as target market. A situation where a country signs free trade agreements yet drags its feet as regards preparedness will amount to shortchanging its citizens in the short run and itself in the long run.
“Looking back at the experience of Vietnam as a country with one of the poorest economies 30 years ago, reports have it that the country among other possibilities began joining free trade agreements with economic blocs like ASEAN and others. It also joined WTO and signed trade deals with USA and China. This reduced import tariffs and boosted local manufacturing. Today, Vietnam is one of Asia’s bubbling economies.”
He therefore emphasized that Nigeria really needed to define its position as regards its economy insisting that the government needed to get serious rather than pretending to be doing something when actually it was doing nothing.
Photo: Mr. Chigozie Chikere.
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