Nigerian Chief Trade Negotiator/Director General, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, Chiedu Osakwe, will be the lead speaker at the first session of the ongoing 12th Annual Business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) today.
The session, with the topic ‘Bringing Down the Barriers: The Law as a Vehicle for Intra-Africa Trade’, will be chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, while Soji Awogbade, Managing Partner, Aelex, will be the moderator.
Also on the list of speakers for today is Ambassador Ishmael Faizel, former South Africa Representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), who will speak during the session on ‘AfCFTA and Transformative Industrialisation of Nigeria’.
Speaking on the import of the first session of the conference, Okey Egbuchu, chairman, 2018 Conference Planning Committee, said, “The first session speaks entirely to the theme and will set the tone for the discussions in the other key areas such as financing intra-Africa trade and development, movement of goods, services and persons, transport connectivity, e-commerce, competition and consumer protection, ease of doing business and dispute resolution.”
The conference began yesterday with an opening ceremony and dinner which had Vice President Osinbajo as Special Guest of Honour, Hon. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria, as chairman, and Okey Enelamah, Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, as Special Guest.
A statement by the organizers of the conference notes that the first session will examine the raison d’etre for the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which seeks to progressively eliminate trade restrictions and transform the African economy.
The statement further notes that today will witness a total of six sessions. A breakdown of the sessions shows that Session 2A, which has the topic ‘Financing Intra-Africa Trade and Development’, will look at how key stakeholders intend to rise to the demands of financing the expansion of intra-Africa trade; Session 2B, ‘Continental Trade and the Imperative of Unimpeded Movement of Goods, Labour and Services’, will consider the concerns of various stakeholders and the mitigating safeguards since the AFCFTA assumes there will be minimal restrictions on the movement of goods, labour and services among African countries; while Session 3, ‘AfCFTA and Transformative Industrialisation of Nigeria’, will be headlined by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) as it seeks to affirm and share the transformative potential of AfCFTA for the industrialization of Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria.
Furthermore, Session 4A, with the topic ‘Enhancing Transport Connectivity in Africa’, will adopt a multi-model approach to examining the state of air, road, rail and sea transportation in Africa and how it can be developed to be an indispensable spine for continental trade, while Session 4B, ‘Marching in Lockstep – Building Sub-National Competitiveness for Global Investment’, which is the last session for the day, will lead a conversation on how states, provinces and other sub-national entities can harness their competitive advantages in order to attract global investment.
Among the names on the list of session chairs and panellists for the day include Okey Enelamah, Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment; Ambassador Albert M. Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry; George Etomi, founding chairman, NBA-SBL, and founding partner, George Etomi & Partners; Haresh Aswani, Managing Director, Tolaram Group, Nigeria; Samallie Kiyingi, Director & General Counsel, African Export-Import Bank, and Kemi Arosanyin, Director, Africa Trade Expansion Programme, World Trade Centre, Miami, Florida.
Others are Ibrahim Dankwambo, Gombe State governor; Dr. Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration and Trade Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Prof Bola A. Akinterinwa, former Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Segun Awolowo, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Export Promotion Council; Clara Bot-Mang, HR Director, sub-Saharan Africa, GE; Tony Luka Elumelu, Head of Free Movement and Migration Division, ECOWAS Secretariat; Afolabi Imoukhuede, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment, Office of the Vice President, among others.
