Assessing the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement in Nigeria
Abstract
This study was an assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement in Nigeria. The AfCFTA was signed by 54 out of 55 Member-States of the African Union on 21st March 2018, and came into effect on 1st January, 2021. The study focused on the AfCFTA, as an Afrocentric vision designed to enable collective Africa find home grown solution to its peculiar socio-economic challenges through trade, thereby, achieving the target of boosting intra-African trade and Agenda 2063. The research therefore, investigated the emergence of the AfCFTA and how its implementation affected Nigeria’s trade and economic fortunes. This integration process was explained in the theories of regional integration, functionalism and neo- functionalism. The research further evaluated the AfCFTA Agreement and its implications on Nigeria’s trade policy. Using interpretive-qualitative analysis of data drawn from both primary and secondary sources, records of interviews and field note. The study also considered factors that militated against the slow implementation of the set objectives of the pact and Nigeria’s trade indices both import and export prior to the introduction of the AfCFTA, looking at the statistics on the country’s trading profile with Member-States comparatively, and whether or not the introduction of the AfCFTA acted as catalyst. The study revealed that the AfCFTA recorded marginal successes due to a number of factors including the divergence of Member-States’ interests to surrender elements of their sovereignty, institutional dysfunction within the sub- regional authorities tasked with the coordination of the implementation of the agreement, the poor state or absence of basic infrastructure, the lack of popular participation by critical stakeholders seemed to hamper the realisation of the goals, and how the coming of AfCFTA was projected to change the narrative of lower percentages of intra-Africa trade with Nigeria. It therefore, recommended that for Nigeria to benefit from the AfCFTA, the country need to commit to comprehensive, sustainable strategy to align its trade and economic policies with the AfCFTA, thereby, ensuring that all the conditions favourable to it are in place, including relevant infrastructure, right business climate, competent drivers in the sector and above all, political will.
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