Afreximbank president urges Fed Govt to sign AfCFTA

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President of African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, has urged the Federal Government to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

He gave the advice while speaking in Lagos last Tuesday as guest lecturer at the 2019 edition of the annual Bullion Lecture organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ Nigeria).

Professor Oramah, who spoke on the topic: Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to Boost Nigeria’s Economic Development, urged the Federal government to take urgent steps to endorse AfCAFTA in order to key into what he called a window of opportunity for the country to maximise its economic potential.

He expressed concern over the inability of the  government to endorse the agreement, which was produced from the decisions and milestones articulated at the Abuja Treaty of  1991 aimed at defining clear plans for Africa’s economic integration.

According to him, the AfCFTA was signed in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018 by 44 of 55 African countries while Nigeria which hosted the forum that gave birth to the initiative was yet to decide on what to do with it.

Oramah said it was worrying to well-meaning Nigerians and other countries of Africa that a treaty, which Nigeria gave birth to had to be delivered in Rwanda while smaller countries that looked up to her had endorsed the agreement and went forward to ratify it.

“The AfCFTA, which was signed in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018, was in line with the Abuja Treaty expectations. So … the child that was conceived in Nigeria was born in Rwanda. And with the emergence of that child, Africa sees a renewed hope, a reinvigoration to chart a new course,” Oramah told the audience in Lagos.

Tracing the historical and economic imperatives that necessitated the birth of the AfCFTA, the Afreximbank boss noted that Africa benefited a little from many years it was ruled by colonial powers whose main focus was to draw the raw materials it needed for its home industries while it dumped its own manufactured goods in return.

He said the AfCFTA was meant to change the narrative as a continent that was called the “Basket Case”, is now on the path to becoming the “Bread Basket” of the world.

Enumerating the benefits of the AfCFTA to Africa and to Nigeria in particular, Prof. Oramah said the treaty would create the environment for the continent to chart a new development path and eliminate the causes of weakness while upholding the areas of strength among the 55 countries of the continent.

He also said the initiative would create the required economic integration that would promote sub-regional and continental supply chains such as the automotive industry, as “the AfCFTA offers opportunity for African countries to begin to create and nurture infant industries”.

Oramah added that : “The AfCFTA creates opportunities for African economies, including Nigeria, to take over from China as the World’s manufacturing hub. China exports $45 billion of light manufacturers into Africa. Nigeria and other African countries can expect to fill that void if they take advantage of the tariff and non-tariff reductions in the AfCFTA.”

The Afreximbank chief said Nigeria stands a great chance of enlarging its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows through the AfCFTA given its position as the largest economy and the most populous in Africa.


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