By Chesa Chesa
The Federal Government has admitted its failure to engage in adequate consultations as the reason President Muhammadu Buhari cancelled his scheduled trip to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) deal meant to promote commerce among African countries.
Buhari was billed to append his signature to the deal on behalf of Nigeria during an African leaders’ summit in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, despite opposition from industry groups like the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which had insisted that the deal was not in favour Nigeria’s economy.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, had recently declared that “we at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this. We are more worried by the probable outcome of this policy initiative if it is given life because of its crippling effect on the local businesses and attendant effects on jobs.
“We have no doubt this policy initiative will spell the death knell of the Nigerian economy. Accordingly, we urge Mr. President not to sign this agreement either in Kigali or anywhere. We believe our national interest is at stake and nothing should be done to compromise this.”
Obviously as a result of this, Buhari cancelled the trip at the last minute on Saturday after which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in a statement that a�?President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda to attend an Extra-Ordinary Summit of the African Union on Tuesday, March 21, to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. This is to allow more time for input from Nigerian stakeholders.”
The decision for Nigeria to sign the pact was taken during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Prior to this, the Minister of Trade and Investments, Okechukwu Enelamah, had informed State House correspondents after last Wednesday’s FEC meeting chaired by Osinbajo, that Buhari would go ahead with the trip wide consultations preceded the decision for Nigeria to sign the deal.
He disclosed that Nigeria was even bidding to host the Headquarters/Secretariat of the CFTA
Enelamah said then that “the conclusion we reached was that it is very important in going with the agreement and that we are clear we are doing what is good for Nigeria. We want it to generate more exports for African market.
“We are also going into it wanting to protect our markets from unfair trade practices – dumping, smuggling and all the other things that can go wrong. FEC directed that we should makes sure that those things are built into the detailed paper work that will follow. And more importantly, in the implementation, whatever ways and means are needed, that they should be addressed.
“The president also gave a set of objectives for negotiations in February 2017 and those points were also in those negotiations and those points have been met in terms of the framework. Now we have to deal with the entails and ensure that the implementation will be good enough.”
On whether enough consultations were carried out with Nigerians to ensure they are carried along, Enlameh said, a�?the president in his directive in February 2017, constituted a negotiating committee that included organised private sector and business – like MAN and NACCIMA they have been working with us.
He however, explained that his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, had been mandated to widen consultations with stakeholders, including National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
The CFTA is the first step in the implementation of African Union’s Agenda 2063, for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, and when in force, the CFTA shall be the largest Free Trade Area (FTA) in the global economy, by number.
Why Buhari aborted Rwanda trip
