AfCFTA: OPS Mulls Measures to Overcome Constraints

Members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) have stated that a lot still needs to be done to enable Nigerian manufacturers to maximise the benefits offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

The OPS clarified that Nigeria lacked the capacity to compete with small African countries that serve as out post for highly industrialised economies to penetrate and subjugate the Nigeria economy in spite of its status as the biggest economy in Africa.

They enjoined the Nigeria’s government to ensure that goods coming into the country from neighbouring countries in the name of AfCFTA are truly made in Africa.

Laying the groundwork yesterday for the discussion meant to prepare the Nigerian private sector to grasp the proper understanding of the details of the AfCFTA’s agreement, such as the Rules of origin, protocol of trade in goods and services, dispute resolution etc., at the AfCFTA Dialogue Series organized by the Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) in collaboration with Deloitte, the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, who delivered a keynote address urged members of OPS to make their businesses competitive enough in order to benefit from the opportunities will derive from AFCFTA.

Ajayi-Kadiri, who was represented by his Director of Economic and Statistics, Mr. Oluwasegun Osidipe, said the Nigerian private sector must be very proactive and sensitive to opportunities because “AfCFTA is about economic integration, an arrangement among nations that typically includes the reduction or elimination of trade barriers and the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies as well as aims to reduce costs for both consumers and producers and increase trade between the countries involved in the agreement.”

He pointed out that

“the biggest and obvious constraint to Nigeria’s gainful participation in AfCFTA would be the uncompetitive stance of the economy, which he identified as low capacity utilization, unsold inventory of manufactured goods, weak infrastructure including land transportation and rail as well as shipping problems and access to markets among high cost of inputs.”