Fayemi advocates incorporation of state government into AFCFTA for Nigerian benefits

The Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi, has disclosed that it was important for the state governments to be incorporated into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) implementation plan in Nigeria in order to fully harness the opportunities that are bound in the agreement.

Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja at the National Action Committee (NAC) workshop on Subnational Strategy for the implementation of AFCFTA, Fayemi revealed that it was paramount for States to key into AFCFTA for the country’s benefit.

“For Nigeria to benefit fully from this opportunity and position itself competitively, the sub-national governments need to incorporate considerations of the agreement into our development plan.”

The Governor raised concern over what he called the revenue-generating mentality of regulatory Agencies like the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) amongst others that may hinder the smooth implementation of the AFCFTA.

“We have Customs, I don’t want to go into the details of the mentality of our Customs – which focuses more on revenue generation than trade facilitation, and trade facilitation is what will make AfCFTA works better in our environment, ditto our Immigration Service.

“Yes, we all say under the Buhari’s administration as part of the ease of doing business competitive framework, we now allow visa at the point of entry, but those who have gone through that experience will also tell you that trying to bring people in on the visa at point of entry is an experience you will rather not have because it is not as smooth as we claim it to be,” he said.

The Governor explained that it was important for the country to pull itself together in order to overcome the challenges associated with the implementation of the AFCFTA.

“Nigeria has a tradition and history of being involved in regional integration both at the African Union level as well as being a foundation member of ECOWAS- our regional economic network, so the basis is already there for trade facilitation, for job creation, for expanding economic opportunities for our businesses and ultimately we will be the beneficiaries if we focus on this and look at the opportunities and challenges, and block the leakages that may make it difficult for us to be a full part in the AfCFTA,” Fayemi stated.

While giving his address, the Director-General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN), Yono. Agah states that AFCFTA was yet to commence trading officially even though the Agreement came into force since January 1, 2021.

He said the AFCFTA was a work in progress, adding that only the political trading of the Agreement had commenced.

On his part, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo, stated that AFCFTA will provide immense opportunities for Nigerian companies to expand to Africa especially in areas of oil and gas, financial services, manufacturing among others.

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Fayemi advocates incorporation of state government into AFCFTA for Nigerian benefits