Nigeria’s Foreign Minister says it’s difficult to put a timeline on when his country will sign onto the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement but says they continue to work to get various national sectors and stakeholders on board.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced earlier in 2018 that he would join the agreement but further domestic consultation has delayed their joining the 49 other countries, including South Africa, that have already signed up to the free trade area.
Geoffrey Onyeama also weighed in with some words of advice for Pretoria on how to fight the current recession.
Nigeria continues to drag its feet after President Buhari announced in July that they would in fact sign the Free Trade pact after initially indicating they would not do so.
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says:”The manufacturers association of Nigeria as well as some other sectors of the country felt that Nigeria would be the loser if we signed and I think they came to this conclusion because they were not as well informed about the provisions of the agreement as they could have and so Mr President felt it was unwise to sign when there were these dissonant voices within the country and wanted more time to have a more comprehensive consultation process.”
He explained that they’ve worked hard to dispel some misconceptions about the agreement, particularly around Nigeria’s energy deficit and how that could allow other countries to dump products more cheaply in addition to assurances around the protection for infant industries among others.
His government has since managed to secure the support of the powerful Nigerian Manufacturers Association:
“They’re better informed now, and putting a specific timeline it will be difficult for me, but we are hopeful once everybody is on board that it should not be too long because the manufacturers association of Nigeria are now supportive so hopefully it should not take too long.”
Related video click below:
