Nigeria lags behind 22 years after AGOA implementation
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria is lagging behind in the utilisation of the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), a trade deal implemented by the United States since 2000, and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which implementation began in 2021.
Attention was drawn to this fact by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) at its meeting in Lagos which brainstormed “One year of AfCFTA: Opportunities, challenges and the Nigerian-American partnership”.
NACC President Adebola Williams, represented by Deputy President Thomas Osobu, spoke of how the failure to take advantage of AfCFTA once again underscores Nigeria’s inability to explore its non-oil potential.
“As we all know, with Nigeria’s vast non-oil export potential, we have, quite unfortunately failed to optimise the opportunities available to us. We have largely underperformed in taking advantage of the African Growth Opportunities Act.
“Thereby, one year after the full take off of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, there is a clear need for some sort of review,” he said.
“It is in this consideration that the chamber has facilitated this forum as a key fulfilment of chamber members expectations.
“In doing this, we will continue to broker healthy interactive fora between our members and all relevant facilitating agencies (both governmental and private sector bodies) that are capable of providing useful information that may help our members who are already into exports (whether to destinations inside or outside the African continent) as well as those who are desirous of starting off on an informed note.”
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Unified payment system for trade
Mike Ogbalu, Chief Executive Officer, Pan African Payment Settlement System, African Export-Import Bank, stressed the need to adopt a unified payment system for the specific purpose of intra-African trade, according to The PUNCH.
This, he said, would greatly help member countries tap into the full potentials of the AfCFTA.
Former Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, John Isemede, blamed the lack of adequate infrastructure and government ineptitude for Nigeria’s failure to benefit from AfCFTA.