The Director General, NOTN, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, said his office has also gone ahead to negotiate counter failing duties, global safeguard agreements on the annex of rules of origin that would assist regulators and negotiators mitigate trade risks. The Director General, at a stakeholders sensitization and consultation on the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), said: “The African continental free trade area would establish a single market for trading goods and services although there are risks that would be attempted to tranship or dump in the African market, not limited to Nigeria alone. He stated that the agreement establishing the African continental free trade area will cover a market of 1.5 billion Africans in 2018, saying that going forward in 2050, it would cover four billion Africans which represents 36 per cent of the global populationEarlier, the president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Babatunde Ruwase, said AfCFTA offers a potential of being the largest free trade area in the world and would create a single continental market for goods and services as well ease free movement of people in the continent. He said Nigeria has a lot to gain, but stressed that the decay in the nation’s infrastructure has made Nigeria uncompetitive.“I see no reason why we should be scared of signing the agreement, all we need to do is get our acts right. It is therefore critical to deepen consultations in order to carry the private sector along,” he said.

Source: The Guardian June 01, 2018 04:30 UTC