Nigeria’s Chief Trade Negotiator for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Victor Liman, announced that despite Nigeria agreeing to ratify the agreement, our land borders will remain closed until Nigeria can ensure West African neighbors don’t dump substandard goods into the market.
Mr. Liman disclosed this in an interview with Arise TV on Thursday that, the AfCFTA is a large opportunity for Nigeria as it exposes Nigerian producers to a large market.
“Our major focus is AfCFTA, as we are looking at a market of 1.2 billion people, it’s a big big market. Our focus would be to boost intra-African trade from 17 per cent to 25 per cent as forecasted for 2025, and in the next couple of years move up to 50 per cent,” said Mr Liman.
“If we are able to trade up to the extent of 50 per cent or thereabout, you are looking at a market size that would accommodate Nigeria’s trading interest. We need to put in effort to ensure that the AfCFTA works,” he added.
He noted that Nigeria needs to put in place structures to ensure Nigeria remains competitive in the agreement, especially securing the borders.
“We need to put in place rules to avoid countries or other forms of malfeasance affecting our trade interests, that means we need to be able to put our house in order in terms of our borders.”
“I believe and I know that Nigeria is running round the clock to make sure borders are secure from smuggling. Nigeria needs to sit with neighboring countries and say, if you do not secure your border, then we we would do A, B, C and put a sanction on you. Every stakeholder needs to take this on board to ensure that we have a secure border,” he noted.
Mr Liman also added that Nigeria’s borders will only open when the Federal Government can ensure Nigeria does not become a place for other African countries to dump goods.
“The fact that you are going into a free trade agreement does not mean you can’t secure your country, or can’t take steps to tackle trade malpractices, or take steps to address smuggling or national security issues.”
“These are credible sovereign issues that countries can take steps to address. We need to take our time and ensure our borders are working, and ensure we have effective Customs management and cooperative assistance across the ECOWAS region.”
“Borders will be opened when we are sure and confident that we can trust our neighbours not to come in and dump in our market substandard products.”
