AfCFTA: Nigeria worried over foreign goods, job losses

Acting Director-General of Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN), Victor Liman, has said Nigeria is concerned about transhipment of goods and job cuts as the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) pact takes off in January, 2021.

Speaking during a meeting with officials of AfCFTA, Liman said Nigeria would not accept a situation in which goods imported from outside the African continent, but labeled as produced within Africa, flood the Nigerian market which could affect the economy and create a huge job loss.

Liman said Nigeria needs to make an all-inclusive arrangement, including factoring in the participation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and large businesses.

The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, said AfCFTA would take active steps to prevent the problem of transhipment to protect domestic markets in participating countries.

Mene said the World Bank’s report showed that 30 million Africans will be lifted out of extreme poverty while 70m Africans will be lifted from moderate poverty by year 2035 when AfCFTA is implemented.

President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, said it was the effort of Nigeria that brought about the free trade pact but noted that Nigeria can do better by strengthening power supply, ease of doing business and increased productivity.