Gov Okowa urges Nigeria to leverage on AFCFTA agreement to increase productivity

Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa called on the federal government to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to create jobs, increase productivity and boost the country’s economy.

Okowa appealed when the National Action Committee on AFCFTA visited him on Tuesday in Asaba, Delta.

According to him, Nigeria can explore its huge population to boost increased productivity to help create more jobs and spawn a secure society.

“Being a part of AFCFTA is in the best interest of the country and we must use the things we produce for the benefit of society,” Okowa said.

While welcoming the committee’s initiative to visit the states to educate the public to understand the benefits of the agreement, Okowa stressed the need to domesticate the agreement in the states.

“This is a good start that we are taking because it is essential to have a larger market and to produce quality products that enter the market.

“Greater use of what we produce will be beneficial to us so that we do not use the process of trading and exporting goods in the wrong forum.

He said: “There have been a lot of setbacks in the oil industry over the years because we were happy with the way the crude is, instead of developing it where it will be useful to us.

“It is also important to know the quality of the goods entering the African market.

The governor said the cost of generating electricity was an issue that needed to be addressed, noting that improving electricity availability would help businesses maintain it, as many businesses would not be maintained due to this challenge.

Earlier, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Adeniyi Adebayo, said that the AfCFTA deal aims to create a single market for goods and services made in Africa.

Represented by Mr Aliu Abubakar, director of trade at the ministry, Adebayo described the agreement as part of efforts to deepen economic integration among African countries.

He said the opportunity offered by the deal was access to a single market in Africa with a population of 1.2 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of $ 3.4 trillion.

The minister said the AfCFTA would eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of tradable goods over five years for developing countries and over 10 years for least developed countries and customs unions like ECOWAS.

Adebayo added that this would expand market access for Nigerian exporters of goods and services, which in turn would catalyze production growth and spur job creation in the economy.

He noted that AfCFTA was also interesting for Nigeria because Africa demanded finished products and Nigeria aspired to industrialize and move beyond exporting commodities.

“AfCFTA can act as a catalyst for the diversification of Nigeria’s exports by providing preferential access to Nigerian products and services to the huge African market which currently sources over 85 per cent of imports from outside the continent.

“It also offers immense opportunities for Nigerian businesses to expand in Africa, particularly in oil and gas, financial services, financial technology, tourism services, e-commerce and manufacturing.

“Since most of Nigeria’s wealth is domiciled in the states, if Nigeria is to have any chance of getting anything out of the AfCFTA, it must necessarily tame it at the state and grassroots level.

“It is for this reason that the AfCFTA National Action Committee has launched a nationwide outreach in all states to ensure that each state finds its voice in the overall vision and mission of the AfCFTA. ”Said Adebayo.

Mr Francis Anatogu, secretary of the committee, also said that the mandate of the committee was to facilitate the ratification of the phase one agreement and to implement safeguards in the phase one agreements of the AfCFTA.

He also said that it was to defend the programs aimed at solving the critical challenges at the continental level, to conclude the ongoing trade reform programs within ECOWAS, such as the adoption of a common trade policy.

According to him, the committee’s duty is also to facilitate programs to improve productivity and production capacities on priority products and services and to facilitate the growth of Nigerians’ export trade capacities.

“We improve coordination between trade, fiscal and monetary policies, facilitate the application of national and international trade rules, facilitate changes in-laws and the adoption of new bills as needed.

“With the above in mind, we started by establishing the requirements to protect the Nigerian economy from identified threats.

“With the certainty that the threats can be mitigated, we recommended the ratification of the agreement to the Federal Executive Council. (NAA)

(NAN)