AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA AGREEMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIA’S TRADE POLICY
Audu, Sulaiman Muhammad , Prof. Yahaya A. Adadu, Dr. David Sunday Jacho and Dr. Canice Erunke
Volume 2 Issue 2
Abstract
This study evaluates the introduction, ratification and implementation strategy of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, and its implications for Nigeria Trade Policy which was signed by 54 out of the 55 Member-States of the African Union on the 21st March 2018, and came into effect on the 1st January, 2021. The study focuses on the AfCFTA, as an Afrocentric vision designed to enable collective Africa find home grown solution to its peculiar socio-economic challenges through trade, thereby, achieving the target of boosting intraAfrican trade (BIAT) and Agenda 2063. The research seeks to further evaluate the AfCFTA Agreement and its implications for Nigeria’s trade policy, particularly in a Continent where Member-States still cage themselves in concrete walls of sovereignty in terms of Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers in trade. Using interpretive-qualitative analysis of data drawn from both primary and secondary sources, records of interviews and field notes, the study reveals that mostly, non-complementarities of trade between the African States and the international market, the divergence of Member-States’ interests to surrender elements of their sovereignty, institutional dysfunction within Member-States institutions tasked with the coordination of the implementation of the agreement, the poor state or absence of basic infrastructure and the lack of popular participation by critical stakeholders seem likely to hamper the realisation of the goals of the continental pact, as early signs point to this fact. The study therefore, investigates Nigeria’s trade indices both import and export prior to the introduction of the AfCFTA, looking at the statistics on the country’s trading profile with African States comparatively, and whether or not the Agreement will act as catalyst in the rejuvenation of the Country’s economic fortunes through trade. It therefore, recommend that for Nigeria to benefit from the trade pact, the country should commit to comprehensive, sustainable strategy to align its trade policy with the AfCFTA as well as ensure all the conditions favourable to it are in place, including relevant infrastructure, right business climate, competent drivers in the sector and above all, political will. Keywords: Free Trade, Agreement, Trade Policy, Tariff, AfCFTA
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