AfCFTA: FG committed to mitigating dumping risk

 COMFORT EKELEME, Asst Business Editor

Following the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured the Federal Government’s commitment towards mitigating risk of dumping.

Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister, Trade and Investment, Chief Niyi Adebayo, at the opening ceremony of the 2020 edition of the Annual Nigeria Manufacturing and Equipment (NME) Expo in Lagos, said the national action committee set up by the President is working out modalities to ensure that Nigeria does not end up becoming a dumping ground for sub standard products.

According to him, the signing of the AfCFTA Agreement presents great opportunity for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

He said, “We have an opportunity to extend our reach across Africa where we are already exporting commodities such as Cement and even Fintech. This is crucial because we are also the target market for all of Africa that we also have to mitigate risk of dumping.

“MAN has been a strategic partner and participant in the ongoing negotiations and implementation tax force, it now has to redefine and challenge itself to partner with the public sector to ensure that we reap the immense benefits that awaits our economy and our people in these changing times.

“We are committed to partnering with the private sector in realizing the vision for the economy, we acknowledge that the private sector holds much of the capital and equities required to realizing visions and we believe that MAN being one of the nation’s foremost organized private sectors is proud to take the lead in this regard. We must increase the patronage of locally made goods, bridge the gaps in industrial scales and innovation, address the cost and access to finance and resolve multiple taxations,” Osinbajo said.

Speaking further, the Vice President maintained that the manufacturing sector must prepare itself for the fourth industrial revolution, coming in the age of AfCFTA, adding:  “I am pleased to see that the theme of this conference seeks to address the changes that we should expect”.

He said, the manufacturing sector is at the center of our strategy for attaining sustainable growth and fulfilling President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to lift one hundred million people out of poverty over the next ten years.

“No other sector provides a stronger linkage to creating jobs, improving value addition, creating wealth for 50 per cent of our workforce who reside in the agricultural sector. We are at a crucial point in our economic history as a nation. AfCFTA is an agreement that will change the positioning of the Nigerian market and the way trade is carried out in Africa, our population is growing at about 3 per cent per annum and about 1.7 million additional young men and women become eligible to join the work force every year.

“In three decades from now, we will have the largest population in the world. Despite the fact that agriculture contribute 22 per cent of our Gross Domestic Products (GDP), we continue to face the challenge of meeting the domestic food requirement, providing raw materials for the manufacturing sector,” he added.

Earlier in his welcome address in Lagos, President, Manufactures Association of Nigeria, Engr Mansur Amhed urged the federal government to scale-up its plan for the energy sector to reduce cost, improve processes, maximize value addition and generate employment.

He noted that one of the critical challenges before the Nigerian manufacturing sector is inadequate energy supply for industrial use, adding that manufacturers cannot achieve competitiveness with the current state of our electricity supply in the country.

According to him, there is also the need to increase skills and labour productivity and encourage more women into the manufacturing field in this regard, stressing that the nation’s current energy projection and currently generated supply is below the expected level required to drive an industrialized economy.

While appreciating the federal government’s support for manufacturers particularly in ensuring that the operating environment becomes increasingly conducive to help businesses thrive notwithstanding the fast-growing competitive environment, he added that this annual market place for stakeholders affords the opportunity to examine the state of the manufacturing sector and deliberate on the road map for the development.

Speaking further, Engr Amhed said: “I am confident that if provided a conducive operating environment, manufacturers in Nigeria given their track record of resilience and resourcefulness will rise to meet the challenges. The times ahead in the free continental market will also come new challenges such as harmonization of trade facilitation practices. These developments should bring government and businesses together as joint managers of the economy with the private sector truly at the steering wheel”.

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