AfCFTA new normal to uplift continental trade, Afreximbank declares

President of Afreximbank, Cairo, Prof. Benedict Oramah, has described the African Continental Free Trade Zone Agreement (AfCFTA) as a new normal that will change the face of trade on the continent.

He said following the collapse of commodity prices in 2015 and the consequent recession in many African nations, the lender disbursed $6 billion through the Counter-Cyclical Trade Liquidity Facility (COTRALF), with Nigeria pocketing $1.8 billion, followed by a $7 billion disbursements to African countries as part of its COVID-19 Response Fund, wherein Nigeria again received $1billion.

Oramah, who was represented by Regional Chief Operations Officer in charge of Anglophone West Africa, Eric Monchu Intong, at a book launch, a festschrift for former Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Olabisi Ogunjobi, titled ‘The New Normal As Option for Sustainable Development in Nigeria’, in Lagos, at the weekend, said components of the trade agreement had the propensity to transform trade on the continent.

In his keynote address, Oramah mentioned that the components like MANSA, KYC platform, PAPSS, TIP, TRIP, AfCTTA, adjustment funds, Afreximbank-Africa Collaborative Guarantee Scheme and Harmonisation of Standards and Rules of Origin for Goods are to be traded under AfCFTA.

He described the honouree as an accomplished development economist, consultant, public policy analyst, author, philanthropist and youth mentor, stating that there was no better way to immortalise what Nigeria went through during the COVID-19 pandemic than to chronicle it in a book for generations to read for inspiration.

In the 330-page book, split into 22 chapters and compiled by over 20 experts, who discussed security, finance and budgeting, trade restrictions and governance and COVID-19 responses in Africa, Oramah observed: “Our schools and universities will use the book to educate the younger generation to learn how to fend for themselves even in time of crises,” adding that the text encapsulates lessons learned and how Nigeria and even the continent could take their destinies in their hands and proffer local solutions to Africa’s problems.

Chairman of the occasion and erstwhile vice-chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Prof. Michael Faborode, commended Glorious Vision University for publishing the book, which interrogated sustainable public economic recovery in Nigeria, security, globalisation and social justice, fallow state of Africa, foreign direct investment and Afreximbank as a catalyst for intra-Africa trade and investment.

Book reviewer, Prof. E.S. Asemah, Dean College of Management & Social Science (COLMASS), Glorious Vision University, Ogwa, said the literature covers different aspects of sustainable development.