Nigeria Must Break Bottlenecks and Barriers to Access AfCFTA $3.4 Trillion, Company Boss Says
- The Chief Operating Officer of a cable company has asked Nigeria to embrace the opportunity present in the AfCFTA agreement
- Olubukola Adubi stated this at a recent event in Nigeria, where she said the country must remove bottlenecks
- She acknowledged that although there will be bureaucracy in the implementation of the agreement
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Nigeria may miss Africa's $3.4 billion AfCFTA market if it does not remove some bottlenecks and barriers.
The Chief Operating Officer of MicCom Cables and Wires, Bukola Adubi said this while featuring on a pane at the 2022 Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) Forum in Uyo, in Akwa Ibom.
Source: UGC
AfCFTA may not work due to tarrif issues
She spoke about "Deepening Nigerian Content Opportunities in the Decade of Gas."
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Adubi said:
"Ideally, AfCFTA should be fantastic for us as a country. For cable industry, we are seen as one of the industries in Nigeria already set up exceptionally well. If you ask anyone, they will tell you that made-in-Nigeria cables are fantastic.
"But then, it will make sense that we can transcend beyond Nigeria. Our members (Cable Manufacturers Association of Nigeria) can go into Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Senegal.
She praised the AfCFTA agreement but expressed fear that it may not work because of issues around tariffs and government policies, citing the failure of the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme as an example.
"But then, my concern is with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trade liberalization scheme. It doesn't work. And it doesn't work because there are so many issues regarding government policies – the tariffs and member country bureaucratic red tape. So first and foremost, the governments have a huge role to play in breaking these barriers to facilitate effective trade."
She acknowledged that although there will be bureaucracy in the agreement's implementation, several governments must rise to ensure policies are appropriately regulated to avoid creating another set of challenges for businesses.
She said:
"As much as there is going to be bureaucracy, the government has to be there to regulate these things, so that it doesn't create another bottleneck," Adubi noted.
The AfCFTA agreement is the largest free trade area in the world based on the number of countries participating in the pact. The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
The agreement will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas such as trade facilitation and services and regulatory measures such as sanitary standards and technical barriers to trade.
Nigeria not doing enough to access AfCFTA
"As much as it is, AfCFTA is a huge market asset, a combination of $3 trillion GDP; the number of people you can reach is immense," adding that there is no excuse for Nigeria not to be on top of its game with regards to the agreement.
The MicCom Boss regretted that even though the implementation of AfCFTA began in January 2021, Nigeria has not done much with regards to the implementation of the agreement. "We need to get our act together for this to work, and it will work, "Adibi said.
She also noted that playing in the AfCFTA market means that Nigerian companies must be above average because the terrain will be quite different from the in-country market.
Firm applauds SON for destroying substandard cables, goods worth millions of Naira
Legit.ng report that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has destroyed substandard cables and goods running into millions of naira for falling below par.
The action of the agency has been applauded by the Chief Operating Officer of MicCom Cables and Wires, Bukola Adubi, who commended the recent destruction of the goods, which included cables and wires as the SON intensifies its campaign to rid the country of substandard products.
The agency destroyed electric cables, engine oil, LPG cylinders, stuffed tyres, and unapproved cigarettes, including low-grade roofing sheets.
Source: Legit.ng
