The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) expires in September 2025, raising questions on the possibility of its renewal. AGOA is a programme that allows eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa to export 6,800 different products to the United States without paying tariffs or facing limits on the amount they can export.

It came into existence in the year 2000 when President Bill Clinton’s administration passed some specific trade laws, which included AGOA. Its purpose is to assist the SSA economy to promote a free market system, stimulate economic growth and integrate into the global economy. AGOA was modernised and extended from 2015 to 2025.

However, a concerted effort was made last December to renew AGOA. American Senator James Ritch introduced a bipartisan Bill that would renew the trade pact for 16 years, extending it to 2041.

John James also introduced legislation that would extend AGOA for 12 years. Apart from differences over the time frames, the two bills were aligned in their support for an enhanced AGOA.

Talking about Nigeria’s participation and utilisation of AGOA preferences since the year 2000, the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce said in the past that Nigerian companies had not taken advantage of AGOA.

In 2023, Nigerian-born US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, noted that Nigeria has not taken advantage of AGOA and urged entrepreneurs and start-ups to seize opportunity by selling their products and exploring ‘duty-free access’ to the US markets.

Analysts who spoke to The Guardian agreed that Nigeria has not benefited by not taking full advantage of the window. A capital market analyst, Ola Adeyanju said that despite Nigeria’s strong fundamentals, lack of basic infrastructures has rendered the citizens powerless against exportation.

“Cost of production and lack of basic infrastructures are seriously working against exporters in this country,” he said.