A shipping expert and managing director of Cloverleaf Shipping Limited, Sam Opiah, at the weekend said the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) signed by Nigeria early this year will increase intra-African trade by 52 per cent if fully implemented before 2022.
Opiah said this in Calabar during a day stakeholder’s conference organised by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on ‘Assessing the impact of Eastern Ports and Continental Shipping of Export Trade pre and post AfCFTA era.’
According to Opiah, the agreement stands as the largest trade treaty in history since the creation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The pact aims to boost intra-African trade by making the continent a single market of 1.2 billion people and a cumulative Gross Domestic Product of $3.3 trillion.
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The objective of the treaty is to establish a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of business professionals and investment, he said.
Opiah, who was a keynote speaker, said, “In my opinion, the government of Nigeria needs to put in place an internal mechanism to protect local markets from smuggling and dumping by reviewing, harmonising and strengthening institutions.”
He said the relevant government institutions must engage key stakeholders to reach consensus on non-tariff barriers.
“Considering the failure of the West African Free Trade Agreement, which did not really deliver much value to the nation, key players in the private sector must come together and strategise on how best the AfCFTA treaty will promote the frontiers of the much-desired growth of their enterprise and the economy at large,” he said.
According to the shipping expert, the Eastern ports can play a major role in promoting and sustaining the business activities through the AfCFTA.
He said government at all levels and stakeholders must aggressively begin to address the deficiencies to gain from the benefits of the Free Trade Agreement through investment, enlightenment programmes such as this by NEPC, both locally and internationally.
