Afreximbank President urges Nigerian Govt to sign AfCFTA

Motolani Oseni

A year after the majority of the 55 countries in Africa had endorsed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the Nigeria government has yet to decide on signing of the agreement, but President of African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK), Professor Benedict Oramah, has urged the government to sign the Agreement without further delay.

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

The professor who spoke on the topic “Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to boost Nigeria’s economic development,” urged the Nigerian government to take urgent steps to endorse AfCAFTA in order to key into what he called a window of opportunity for the country to maximize its economic potential.

He expressed concern over the inability of the Nigerian 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.

He 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 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Tracing the historical and economic imperatives that necessitated the birth of the AfCFTA, the AFRIEXIMBANK 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.

The Afreximbank chief said that 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.

The event was chaired by the President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Uche Olowu while Ade Adefeko, Vice President, Corporate & Government Relations at OLAM Nigeria and Muda Yusuf, Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) were on the panel of discussants.