Breaking News

We will not Sell-Out by Phasing Out: African Negotiators Urged to Fight for Africa

For 2024: Should Africa De-Link From The West To Settle The Past Injustices?

The Shadow Masters: Cabals and the Whispered Governance of Nigeria

Links| Contact Us

Pan African Visions

Nigeria is leading on pan-African free trade despite not even signing up to the deal, bank chief says

May 15, 2018

Nigeria is in a position of leadership on a pan-African trade deal despite not signing up, the managing director of Ecobank Nigeria told CNBC.
The African Union is proposing a continent-wide trading bloc that would result in the largest free trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization.
- Kenya and Ghana ratified the agreement last week, while Ethiopia's Prime Minister has said that his country is ready to follow suit.
By Justina Crabtree * [caption id="attachment_47715" align="alignleft" width="530"] The Egina floating production storage and offloading vessel, the largest of its kind in Nigeria, is berthed in Lagos harbor on February 23, 2017.
Stefan Heunis | AFP | Getty Images[/caption] Nigeria is in a position of leadership on a proposed Africa-wide trading bloc despite not having signed up to the agreement, the managing director of commercial lender Ecobank Nigeria told CNBC. Nigeria has "shifted the balance of power," and "put itself in the situation where they now have the call," Charles Kie said in an interview Friday. In March, 44 members of the 55-nation African Union signed up to the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), an agreement which proposes a common market across the African continent. The new bloc would result in the largest free trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization. But Nigeria and South Africa, the region's two largest economies, did not get on board, citing concerns over safeguarding jobs and cheap Chinese goods flooding the market.

The summit took place in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Rwanda's President Paul Kagame is also chair of the African Union for 2018. Meanwhile, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the event.

"When you are the largest economy on the continent, and it's a tiny, small country like Rwanda who is leading the conversation on the CFTA, there's a very simple question that you ask yourself: 'Where is your leadership?'" Kie said.

By initially turning down the deal, Nigeria has the "leverage" to "get some of the conditions that they think are critical for the economy to now be put on the table," Kie explained. "They (won't) just absorb the impact of the decision that was taken, but they're also part of the solutions that are going to come." "I'm just making a pure and basic analysis of the powers in presence, and I'm looking at what it entails," he said. "All of this is political, it's the heads of state that sign these agreements." Kie was confident that Nigeria would eventually subscribe to the deal.
"I don't have any doubt that Nigeria will join" the free trade agreement in its own time, he said. "Nobody will doubt the interests of this for the continent."

Kenya and Ghana, both African economies boasting strong fundamentals, ratified the agreement last week. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who leads the east African powerhouse economy which has seen double-digit GDP (gross domestic product) growth as recently as 2017, said on Monday that his country is ready to follow suit. Intra-African trade currently comprises less than 20 percent of the continent's total, with countries often focussed on exporting commodities to former colonial powers instead. It is hoped that the new free trade deal will shift emphasis away from this and towards manufacturing. The African Union posits the agreement as uniting a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion.

"We have to make sure that the rules of engagement when it comes to the free trade area are clearly defined," both in terms of protecting national economies and establishing their manufacturing capacities, Kie said. "It's not going to come overnight."

*CNBC

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Pan African Visions

The developing world is an easy target for populists – Kofi Annan

May 15, 2018 Prev

Pan African Visions

We are all winners with AfCFTA, Ethiopian PM tells ECA Conference of Ministers

May 15, 2018 Next

Related Articles

Pan African Visions

Ethiopia is Waxing Strong in the Face of Multiple Challenges-Ambassador Arega

February 16, 2021

Pan African Visions

The Fisherman's Diary: A Review

November 12, 2020

Pan African Visions

Sierra Leone : Kingmedo Tech Unveils New App To Ease Academic Grading

July 21, 2022

Pan African Visions

Silent Cries – Is Anyone Listening? Experiences of Parents & Children Living with Disabilities in African Diaspora Communities.

September 17, 2018

Pan African Visions

African countries should structure post covid plans around the AfCFTA - Former Liberian Minister B. Elias Shoniyin

October 13, 2020

Pan African Visions

Cameroon: The Fisherman’s Diary Acquired by Netflix

March 01, 2021

Pan African Visions

Education, Courtship, Family, and Africans Abroad.

October 13, 2020

Pan African Visions

RECONSTRUCTING THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM IN AFRICA

February 13, 2021

Pan African Visions

Cameroon’s Kumba Massacre: Fomunyoh Appeals for Serious Negotiation to Tackle the Conflict

October 27, 2020

Pan African Visions

Genocide, Africa and The French Connection

March 27, 2021

Pan African Visions

<