On January 4, Ghana organised an event to commemorate its first export under the framework, setting a tall order for other countries. Ghana is reportedly one of three countries, including Egypt and South Africa that have fit for purpose border and custom facilities, aligning with AfCFTA’s trade terms.
Until his appointment, Mene, who served as head of mission to the World Trade Organisation for South Africa, was his country’s lead negotiator in AfCFTA. Anatogu, who spoke in a telephone interview, said: “For trade to state, we need to execute the tariff order, that is, the list trades to be liberalised. Members of the Economic Community of West African States have the same list. The list has been finalised at the sub-regional level and submitted to the African Union for technical verification. When the technical verification is concluded at AU, it will be published and become public documentation.
He continued: “The AfCFTA Secretariat is a regional administrative office that should have an implementation roadmap that detailed timelines on critical issues of infrastructure and pioneer staffing. The events for its proper takeoff were not sequenced while commitment was secured from the member states.
Anatogu said Nigeria, being import-dependent, would need to “work actively with other African countries to grow specific sectors” to benefit from the agreement. This means that for Nigeria that depends mostly on imported raw materials for production, taxes on any good being exported to neighbouring countries could make the final products too expensive to sell elsewhere on the continent. This is expected to further affect the country’s competitiveness.
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