The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has expressed regret that Nigeria is not among the only three African countries that are currently qualified to access the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM)’s $1 billion fund.

Mene said there is a need for Nigeria to diversify into automobile production to meet the huge gap in Africa’s market. He stated this in Lagos at the Zenith Bank’s international trade seminar on non-oil export.

According to him, AfCFTA estimates that there is a five million yearly gap in the continent, with only South Africa, Morocco and Egypt qualified as real automotive-producing countries.

At the event, Zenith Bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AfCFTA to create an intra-Africa trade portal known as the SMARTAfCFTA.

SMARTAfCFTA is a single portal for trade information for the continent. The bank will fund the portal for trade information in Africa with $1 million.

Speaking at the seminar, Mene said: “We have identified several priority sectors, which we believe in. Our studies indicate that the priority sectors will enable the diversification that we want to see. In the auto sector, we had an opportunity to accelerate the diversification of Africa’s economy.

“Our continent produces 900,000 units of passenger vehicles per year – among South Africa, Egypt and Morocco – and we are 17 per cent of the global population. India with a similar population to Africa, produces five million units of vehicles per year. By the year 2035, our estimates indicate that for us to meet domestic demand in Africa, we have to produce five million units of vehicles per year.

“That means that for Nigeria, there is an opportunity to include the auto sector in its strategy if it is not there already its strategy for diversification, production of vehicles, creating jobs and driving industrialisation. We know that the demand for the African auto sector is not going to be met by Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. There is a need to have more countries produce vehicles for the African continent and create jobs via innovation and driving industrialisation.

“I would suggest and recommend that the auto sector be closely looked at because we know that from every unit of investment on the assembly line to produce a vehicle there are four jobs that are created in the component manufacturing sector, whether it is lithium battery manufacturing or any other kind of a component. So, as we talk about diversification value addition, let us consider the auto sector as one of the enablers for the diversification that we all want to see.

“I am very happy that our development financing institutions have stepped up as AFREXIM has provided the $1 billion facility for any country that wishes to start producing vehicles for trade under AfCFTA.”

Group Managing Director, Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said the implementation of AfCFTA would bring prosperity to Africa and that the portal to be created by the bank would foster intra-Africa trade.

“We expect that the implementation of the agenda will change the fortune of not just Nigeria but also the whole of Africa. The MoU between Zenith Bank and AfCFTA will be executed. The MoU is for Zenith to develop the smart AfCFTA portal, which is going to serve as a trade portal that will showcase African products and services where they can be found.”