•AfCFTA key to protecting continent’s trade interests, intra-African trade

As global trade uncertainties continue, Nigeria and the rest of Africa have been urged to step up pace and industrialisation efforts as well as become more resilient in order to unlock the continent’s trade potential and benefit from intra-African trade.

A new continental survey, the Pan African Freescale Trade and Research Advisory Council (PAFTRAC) 2025 Report, warned that the country, and Africa at large, is still leaving vast trade and economic opportunities on the table. In Nigeria’s case, the challenge is not lack of potential, but slow governance, weak institutional frameworks and failing translation of policy reforms into business-realities.

The PAFTRAC Africa CEO Trade Survey Report 2025,titled Leveraging the AfCFTA in an era of global trade uncertainty, surveyed business leaders and policymakers across the continent, revealed that while the rhetoric around the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and intra-African market integration has never been stronger, the average African business still battles limited access to reliable information on trade opportunities under AfCFTA and extremely hard-to-bridge structural constraints such as exchange rate volatility, high trade-finance costs, infrastructure bottlenecks and regulatory uncertainty.

According to the report, despite being Africa’s largest economy by population and one of its biggest markets, Nigeria risks being a spectator rather than a frontrunner in the next wave of intra-African commerce.

The importance of the AfCFTA in protecting Africa’s trade interests at this time of global uncertainty was highlighted in the report as nearly 50 per cent of respondents believe it is significant in the present climate.

Further exploring the effectiveness and awareness of mechanisms such as the PanAfrican Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Trade Observatory (ATO), the report called for the integration of digital technologies and sustainability in order to shape future trade strategies.

Noting that AfCFTA is constrained by the legacy of years of underwhelming trade facilitation, it revealed that challenges include the vastly different states of readiness of participating countries, a lack of value addition and industrial policies, lengthy customs procedures and corruption at borders and fragmented legal and regulatory systems.

Making a strong case for urgent industrialisation, the report regretted that imports into the continent highlight Africa’s vulnerability in terms of industrialisation and its continuing dependence on manufactured inputs for all sectors. These, it said, are imported from outside the continent and often re-exported, with a minimal amount coming from more industrialised African countries such as South Africa.

“At the top of the list of imports was machinery, machine parts and other manufactured goods at 37.88 per cent. It outpaced services, which came in at 35.90 per cent. Agricultural products were imported by 24.59 per cent of the respondents importing from Africa, followed by software and digital products (24.36 per cent), energy equipment (19.93 per cent), consumer goods (19 per cent), food and beverages (14.80 per cent) and hospitality and tourism (8.51 per cent),” the report noted.

The report further revealed that Nigeria’s de-industrialisation problems have worsened, falling outside the top six exporters of manufactured goods with South Africa leading the continent, followed by Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius and Eswatini. Just two years ago, Nigeria was third.

Urging the elimination of trade barriers and the creation of a more predictable investment environment, it noted that this would help support diversification and value addition, as well as leverage economies of scale for businesses.

The report went on to note that many Nigerian business-leaders still say they do not feel well-equipped with the regulatory, logistical or financial support to scale across borders; battle domestic institutional weakness and are still locked into servicing the local and often informal economy rather than leveraging the continent-wide market that AfCFTA promises.

The report highlighted how Africa is at an inflection point. External shocks, from global financial turbulence to climate disruption to supply-chain realignment, continue to unbalance African trade and only countries that streamline their regulatory frameworks and reduce trade frictions will reap disproportionately.