Lagos to domesticate AfCFTA pact

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has consttued a local action committee to liase with the federal government committee to domesticate the Africa Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Sanwo-Olu disclosed this when he received the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, in courtesy visit at the State House, Alausa.

“We are ready to work with the National Action Committee to domesticate the agreement for a good outcome. As a commercial centre, we will play a leadership role in the comity of States.”

While the governor affirmed that AfCFTA fitted into Lagos’ economic development blueprint, he pointed out that the state had started to build capacity and put in place requisite services to pave the way for free trade.

The Deep Seaport being constructed in Ibeju Lekki, according to him, was strategically initiated to boost the State’s GDP by achieving a quick turnaround in the import and export of goods to African markets.

He described the Smart Meter Hackathon, a power intervention project being funded by Lagos Government, as one of the ways Lagos had positioned itself for continental trade and partnership before the adoption of enabling multilateral agreements.

In his remarks, the minister said the AfCFTA agreement will create a single market for goods produced in Africa adding that the countries could get a combined $3.4 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).