MAN caution FG on African free trade area agreement

The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Frank Udemba Jacobs, has cautioned the federal government to deal with care in committing to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He made the call at the 3rd edition of the Manufacturing Equipment Expo, co-hosted with the Nigerian Raw Materials Exposition in Lagos

Besides, Jacobs said in order not to reverse the gains made in the manufacturing sector over these years, Nigeria should not succumb to the pressure by the European Union to sign the EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in the current form.

According to him, the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) should be done cautiously as it may have unintended consequence of opening up the economy to foreign products, through the back door and exposing the country’s relatively disadvantaged productive sectors to unmanageable pressure.

He said, there is the need for proper and adequate consultations with critical stakeholders to mitigate this imminent onslaught ahead the of the implementation phase.

At the recent 5th meeting of African Union Ministers of Trade (AMOT) in Rwanda chaired by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, it adopted the legal instruments constituting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) namely (a) the Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA (b) the Protocol on Trade in Goods (c) the Protocol on Trade in Services and (d) the Protocol on Rules and Procedures for the Settlement of Disputes.

The AMOT meeting also adopted the Transitional Implementation Work Program which includes a built-in agenda for the finalization of some annexes to the Protocol on Trade in Goods and other arrangements for the operationalization of the AfCFTA.