Why FG must sign AfCFTA agreement – LCCI
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) yesterday appealed to the Federal Government to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement as that is only the first step in the negotiation process before addressing concerns arising from the pact.
AfCFTA has been a contentious issue in the last couple of months with Nigeria failing to sign the agreement which was held in March 2018.
However, while the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) last week urged government to re-visit the scheme for trade facilitation and sign the trade pact, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) insisted it should not until concerns raised concerning the pact are addressed.
But, speaking in Lagos yesterday, at the chamber’s quarterly review of the nation’s economy, LCCI president, Babatunde Ruwase, said the position of the chamber is that government should sign the agreement, since signing was only the first step in the negotiation process.
On the state of the economy, Ruwase once again decried multiplicity of foreign exchange rates, saying the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange band would continue to create undue arbitrage for banks and transparency issues.
He said the supply side of electronic forex market, transfers and card transactions are still being compelled to surrender their forex at the N305 rate instead of N360, adding that will continue to discourage forex supply through the channels.