For Nigeria to explore the many deliverables of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, the Federal Government, relevant agencies and stakeholders must summon the political will to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks plaguing the implementation process.

This formed part of recommendations made by Professors Diran Akinleye and Risikat Dauda, both of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos (UNILAG) alongside three other collaborators, at the end of a research project.

Titled: ‘Learning from regional History: A study of Nigeria’s economic development,’ the research work, which kicked off in 2020 headlined the faculty’s seminar series, which was held last Wednesday.

The research project highlighted a comparison of the regional integration process as well as the many potential benefits of the AfCFTA Agreement if well implemented.

The study also exposed the ills in the government’s negotiation process, drew attention to contradictions with existing domestic institutions and the absence of requisite legal or economic expertise among officials, as well as regulators to translate international trade obligations into domestic regulatory regimes.

As part of contributions to knowledge, the study drew attention to the outsize role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in trade policy implementation, exposed the overlap of trade policy negotiations across and between Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), exposed the tension between the formal and informal trade infrastructure as well as produced new insights into different stages of the trade negotiation process in Nigeria.

Addressing the gathering of participants who converged on the F.S.S. Board Room II for the Faculty’s seminar, Professors Dauda and Akinleye blamed successive Nigerian governments for refusing to implement the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiated between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and European Union (EU).

The researchers accused governments under the ECOWAS of selective implementation of the Common External Tariff (CET) just as they blamed African countries for unilaterally refusing to implement trade agreements, while consistently imposing domestic policies such as border closures and trade taxes, acts which they noted were frustrating the AfCFTA agreement.

The researchers also expressed concerns over the setbacks being experienced in the implementation of trade/institutional agreements in Nigeria often caused by infighting and power tussling between and among agencies, poor coordination among stakeholders and lack of alignment between policies and existing structures, institutional weakness as well as corruption within government hierarchy.

While responding to posers raised by participants, especially Faculty members, Akinleye, who’s the Principal Investigator, stressed the need for human capacity development, promotion of merit as against nepotism, attitudinal reorientation and increased interest in international trade studies.

The discussant, Dr. Martins Oke also spoke on the theme, urging the Nigerian government to take pragmatic steps towards proper implementation of the AfCFTA with a view to consolidating the place of Nigeria as the giant of Africa.

Earlier in her remarks, the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Olufunlayo Bammeke said the seminar series was an avenue to showcase scholarly works in the faculty as well as offer recommendations to identified national challenges.