AfCFTA Secretary-General pledges to eliminate intra-African trade barriers

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• Nigeria eyes $79b export through trade

The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has reaffirmed his commitment to eliminating intra-African trade and investment barriers.

In February last year, at the 13th meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers, which Nigeria participated in, participants promised to eliminate trade barriers within Africa. However, not much progress has been recorded since then.

Speaking at a roundtable on Nigeria’s Implementation of the AfCFTA Protocol in Abuja, last week, Mene said the same constraints are still hindering the continent from reaching its full potential.

This comes even as Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said the country is eyeing an export market of up to $79 billion through the expansion of its export capacity within the AfCFTA framework. She listed anticipated benefits of AfCFTA to the country’s economy to include an estimated 15-17 per cent increased GDP growth, creation of 11 million new jobs across sectors and expansion of export capacity by at least 15 per cent, amounting to $79 billion in increased exports.

Mene noted that the secretariat had developed a legal framework to help eliminate and reduce such barriers, stressing that the protocol on women and youth in trade seeks to eliminate the barriers faced by youth and women-owned businesses. 

“We are trying to eliminate these barriers, including free movement of persons and I can say now that we are ready to eliminate these constraints,” he said.
He highlighted the importance of the Women and Youth on Trade and Digital Trade Protocol, which was adopted by heads of states at the February meeting to promote inclusive trade and development in Africa. He said the protocol addresses the significant barriers faced by women-owned businesses and youth entrepreneurs in accessing new markets across Africa.

Adding that the first certificate of origin issued by Nigeria was to a woman-owned business, he said this enabled the business to access new markets outside Nigeria and West Africa.
  
Oduwole harped on Nigeria’s IT edge in Africa, saying Nigeria is a leader in digital trade within AfCFTA, having achieved the launch of the Technology Export and Digital Trade Desk, developed a digital economy and e-governance bill to address electronic communications and signatures as well as run initiatives like the National Talent Export Programme and Outsource to Nigeria Initiative.

She also mentioned the government digital tech and creative entrepreneurship programme known as the ‘Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises’ and the ‘3 Million Tech Talent Programme,’ and other efforts to close knowledge gaps in the digital ecosystem.

“There is compelling data on Nigeria’s digital economy. The Information Communication Technology sector contributes 20 per cent to GDP (Q2 2024), e-commerce spending is projected to reach $75bn by 2025 and digital trade revenue growth from $5.09bn in 2019 to a projected $18.3bn in 2026,” she said.

Oduwole emphasised that the country has been updating its trade policy to align with AfCFTA objectives, adding that Nigeria has submitted its Schedule of Tariffs and Services, enhanced private sector engagement to foster readiness for intra-African trade opportunities and assumed a positive approach to trade facilitation and ease of doing business.

The minister stressed the need to collaborate with the AfCFTA Secretariat and other relevant stakeholders, noting: “I would like to emphasise the importance of partnerships with stakeholders such as Afreximbank and the launch of the $1 billion Automobile Industry Facility Fund to support industrialisation efforts. I call for continued dialogue and capacity building to ensure inclusivity and the successful implementation of the AfCFTA”.

She said AfCFTA’s implementation has strong potential to open new areas for trade opportunities. “We have already begun to see the transformation with the elimination of tariffs on 90 per cent of goods traded across the continent and have opened up new areas for trade opportunities to stimulate investment and foster competitiveness for African businesses,” she said.

She said that the ministry was committed to a continent-wide private chain approach, which had been done in the airline sector, adding that Africa will benefit from the operation of the approach. “This is to say that we are looking forward to continuing discussions in all preparative areas, and Nigeria is open for business under the framework of the AfCFTA,” she said.

Similarly, the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, urged stakeholders to effectively implement the protocol on digital trade, stressing the importance of strong collaborations to enhance investment in Nigeria’s and Africa’s digital economy.