AfCFTA: Nigeria at advance stage of establishing trade recovery remedy authority – Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr Wamkele Mene, has disclosed that Nigeria is on the verge of registering a trade remedy recovery authority which he says is a major leap for the agreement.

The AfCFTA boss made this disclosure at a courtesy visit to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) this week in Lagos, as he stated that the AfCFTA will lift Africa from the effects of the pandemic.

“With COVID-19, we went from that to a contraction of a magnitude that we have not had in about 30 years,” he said, citing that 6 out of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world were African before the pandemic.

“But with the objectives of the AfCFTA, by 2035, by dabbling into Africa trade, Africa is on the path to industrial development and we are building a capacity to diversify our exports within and outside the continent,” he added.

He revealed that the International Monetary Fund stated that Africa will have positive growth by 2022 if the vaccine roll-out strategy comes just in time for the implementation of the AfCFTA.

He also said that trade remedies would be needed for the implementation of the agreement to prevent issues of dumping and disputes related to free trade.

“At the moment, only two countries Egypt and South Africa have their trade remedy authorities ready, and this has the ability to prevent dumping and address many other challenges associated with inter-African trade.

“Nigeria is at the advanced stage of establishing a trade recovery remedy authority and this is a very positive step,” he said.

He urged for collaboration with the private sector and African governments to increase capacity to facilitate African trade, especially with customs agreements, as it would ensure discipline and make the rollout more efficient.

Reports recently surfaced that the Nigerian government announced that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would help reduce illegal mining in the country and also standardize Mining practices in Nigeria.

PriceWaterCoopers Nigeria says that the Covid-19 pandemic could pose a risk to African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. It also said that African nations and relevant stakeholders could also turn the agreement into an opportunity for stronger collaboration if certain policies are pursued quickly.