The Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement in Nigeria is to begin on January 1, 2021.
Although there are concerns about the country’s readiness for the deal at the time, its action committee in Nigeria, maintains, that this is the right time to start.
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement is to allow for tariff free trade across the continent’s borders.
It’s a few months to its take off in Nigeria, and the organised private sector has a number of concerns.
But the National Action Committee on the AfCTA admits that though there are some gaps, the country is more prepared than most African nations.
Matching up with the volume of finished product inflows from other parts of the continent, had been a cause of worry for indigenous players even before Nigeria signed the agreement.
More worrisome is the impact of Covid-19 on the productive sector’s output.
But the committee says trade ready mechanisms will be employed to prevent possibilities of the country becoming a dumping ground.
There are arguments on revenue declining as tariffs are removed to allow for free trade in line with the agreement’s provisions.
Trade deal’s facilitators choose to remain positive of a rise in revenue as intra African trade only accounts for 10% of the country’s trade income.
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