Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, on Tuesday pledged his administration support for and partnership with the Federal Government with respect to domesticating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Speaking at a meeting with a Federal Government Trade delegation led by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment and Chairman of the National Action Committee on the AfCFTA, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, ably represented by Mr. Aliyu Abubakar, Director of Trade, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Mr. Francis Anatogu, Secretary of the National Action Committee on the AfCFTA in Asaba.
The Governor urged the Federal Government to quickly address the issues of high cost of production which as a result of infrastructural deficits such as poor power supply in the country.
He also highlighted areas where eliminating bottlenecks and constraints will help facilitate trade encourage more exports.
The governor commended the efforts of the National Action Committee on the AfCFTA led by the Honourable Minister in the domestication of the agreement in states of the Federation while thanking them for the Subnational Engagement that is happening from state to state enthusiasm in moving from state to state which will ensure that more states are involved in the trade agreement which is intended to boost export and increase each states internally generated revenue.
“It is of great interest to us and I am glad you are moving from state to state to sensitise them well enough and to enable us collectively take advantage of the agreement to boost trade in the country.
He also added that “There is no doubt that in preparing to ensure that more states get into the market, we will welcome this collaboration because it will enhance productivity once we have access to the market.
“We have tended to stay satisfied with crude oil without actually developing it in a way that it becomes more useful to us.
“We are glad that this relationship is coming at this time because it will actually stimulate and expand production thereby creating room for greater employment and people will make more money.
“When more and more people get employed there is less insecurity because when you take off more people from the unemployment market, you have less people available for criminal tendencies.
“We hope that the issue of cost of fund and power supply will be addressed because it leads to a high cost of production and it will affect producers in such a way that their products cannot compete favourably,’’ he stated.
Okowa also called on the government to ensure that constraints involved in the export process were taken care of to ensure that more people participate in the free trade area.
In his address, the minister, who was represented by the Director of Trade in the Ministry, Mr. Aliyu Abubakar, said that the AfCFTA agreement sought to create a single market of 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of 3.4 trillion dollars for made-in-Africa goods.
He said the AfCFTA would eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of tradable goods over five years for developing countries and 10 years for least developed countries.
Adebayo said that the agreement would also expand market access for Nigeria’s exporters of goods and services which would in turn, catalyse production growth and boost job creation in Nigeria’s economy.
He added that the AfCFTA would stimulate Nigeria’s export diversification by providing preferential access to Nigeria products and services to the huge African market which currently sourced 85 per cent of imports from outside the continent.
Presenting a progress report of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Secretary of the Committee and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector Matters, Mr Francis Anatogu, said the Committee had developed a National Implementation Plan for inputs from government and private sector stakeholders.
He further stated that domestication of the AfCFTA, border regulations enforcement and rules of origin enforcement, trade facilitation and ease-of-doing-business as well as quality infrastructure improvement were some of the progresses made so far.
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