joshua.olomu

News Agency Of Nigeria

<h1>The AfCFTA agreement is&nbsp;brokered by the AU, and was signed by 44 of its 55 member states in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018.</h1>

It is reputed to be the largest free-trade area in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.

The main objectives of the AfCFTA are to create a continental market for goods and services with free movement of people and capital and pave the way for creating a Customs Union.

It is expected to grow intra-African trade through better harmonisation and coordination of trade liberalisation across the continent.

Immediately after signing&nbsp;the agreement establishing the&nbsp;AfCFTA on July 7, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari&nbsp;directed the constitution of a National Action Committee (NAC).

The mandate of the NAC is to coordinate relevant MDAs and stakeholder groups to implement the trade readiness interventions detailed in the AfCFTA Impact and Readiness Assessment Report including projects, policies and programmes.

The NAC, chaired by Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, immediately commenced series of strategy workshops to rally stakeholders in every sector of the economy as part of the implementation process.

Within the last 10 months, the NAC secretariat has held workshops for stakeholders in Agriculture, Transport, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, Finance&nbsp;and other&nbsp;key sectors of the economy.

According to Adebayo, the workshop series are to engage stakeholders in developing a national strategy for all sectors to contribute optimally under the continental free trade agreement.

The minister said Nigeria has a lot to gain from the intra-Africa trading when it becomes operational.

He noted that the AfCFTA&nbsp;agreement encourage member states to specialise in the production of&nbsp;certain goods where they have a comparative advantage.

He, therefore, urged that since Nigeria has vast agriculture potential it was expedient to completely overhaul the sector to enhance&nbsp;the quality and quantity of local production, create more jobs and increase&nbsp;agricultural exports.

“As a committee, we are now working toward how we, as a nation, can properly utilise business doors being offered by AfCFTA.

“It provides us that opportunity that we have always yearned for to diversify our export base because the opportunity is there in Africa, and the Africa market is huge.

“Africa imports most of its manufactured products from the rest of the world, so AfCFTA provides opportunity to industrialise, it provides opportunity&nbsp;for us to diversify our economy,” he said.

As part of efforts in designing roadmap for the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement, the NAC has started rallying state governments for support in the development of respective sub-national strategies.

Mr Francis Anatogu, Secretary of the NAC, said the Federal Government wants state governments to embrace economic opportunities the trade area offers.

Anatogu, who is also the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector, said the Federal Government wants a buy-in and support of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.

He said the NAC secretariat was working towards setting up AfCFTA implementation Focal Desks in states, and therefore urged state governments to explore their areas of comparative advantages for economic growth and job creation.

“The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) represents the states as good channel to reach out to the state government, and that is why we have reached out to it.

“We want them to take advantage of AfCTA, because as a Nation we need to produce what we sell, we need to invest and attract investors.

“To attract investors, we need good policies, infrastructure and good conditions for ease of doing business,” he said.

Anatogu however said that although the Intra-African Trading was expected to start in January 2021,&nbsp;there were still several practical steps that needed&nbsp;to happen before the AfCFTA agreement can be fully operationalised.

“The AfCTA is like a marathon, is a 10-year programme, which will take such a long time to achieve a full liberalisation of tariff plan.

“So a number of practical steps need to be taken, including the tariff rules and the tariff rates that need to be worked out,” he said.

According to him, there are safeguards in the agreement that gives parties the right to take action when they notice that some segments of their economy are suffering.

He said that the agreement makes provision for each participating country to have its Trade Remedy Authority.

“We have identified areas to liberalise, including those in the sensitive list that will take a longer time to be liberalised and those in the exclusive list that are not subject to liberalisation.

“First is the list, and secondly is the ability to put the hand brake when things start going sour, they are all in the agreement.

“Another safeguard in the agreement is the ability to also take action when your balance&nbsp;of payment is affected , which now point to why we should have that Trade Remedy Authority.

“It is that entity that will conduct investigation and bring out evidence that something is not happening right, and then the relevant people can act,” he said.

However, as trading among countries is expected to commence, economic experts, industry watchers and players have continued to express concerns if the continent was really prepared&nbsp;for&nbsp;‘One Africa Trade.’

They noted that although it was envisioned that the free trade area will lead to increased competition, innovation and prosperity for Africa, countries should beware of anything that would undermine local manufacturers and entrepreneurs.

They expressed concern if the agreement adequately envisaged anti-competitive practices such as dumping, as surge in imports will likely threaten output, jobs and investment in the manufacturing sector and local infant industries.

Dr Sidney Inegbedion, President, Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum ( NEF), said: “Nigeria adjudged the largest economy in Africa stands at the threshold of being able to take advantage of the myriad trade and investment opportunities.

“It may perhaps sit and open its large market for exploitation and dumping.”

Mr John Adaji, President&nbsp;of National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), said that Nigeria should minimise the possible threats of the AfCFTA to her economic development.

“How do we ensure that implementation of the new trade agreement does not undermine current efforts at industrial revival particularly in relation to the Textile and Garment industry.&nbsp;

“Fair trade within the AfCFTA and the current and future jobs in our textile and garment industries will be further devastated if African customs authorities across the board do not properly manage their borders.

“It is necessary to prevent a flood of illicit imports from abroad into Africa and the breaking and undermining of rules,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari signs the African Continental Free Trade Areas (AfCFTA) agreement  [Twitter/@BashirAhmaad]

As African Union (AU) member countries start the&nbsp;‘One African Market’&nbsp;on Jan. 1, 2021&nbsp;under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Nigeria stands at the threshold of being able to&nbsp;maximise&nbsp;the trade and investment opportunities it offers.

AfCFTA: Examining Nigeria’s steps toward one Africa Market

<h1>Impact Future Nigeria (IFN), a pro-democracy group, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over ‘militarisation’ of the 2019 general elections. </h1>

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of the group marched on some roads in the FCT, carrying placards with different inscriptions, thereafter, proceeded to the U.S. Embassy to express their concerns to the international community.

Some of the inscriptions read: “Our democracy is in danger’’, “Stop using Army in our elections’’, among others.

According to the group, involvement of military in elections is a threat to Nigerian nascent democracy which must be brought to the attention stakeholders, including the diplomatic community.

Miss May Ubeku, the Convener of IFN, said that the protest was part of efforts to ensure that the Governorship and States House of Assembly polls slated for March 9 were not militarised.

“We are gathered here today to draw the attention of all Nigerians and lovers of democracy across the world, especially the U. S. to the danger of militarilisation of our polls.

“Peaceful elections without intimidation of citizens are essential to Nigeria’s stability, and that is why we are calling on the international community to urge the Federal Government not to involve the military in our elections.

“It is pertinent to note that the Nigerian Army, saddled with the responsibility of protecting our territorial integrity and ensure peace, has decided to take sides in elections.

“In the last presidential and national assembly polls, there were alleged clear cases of molestations and intimidations of voters to favour a particular party.

“This posses a great danger to our hard earned democracy as the army has become a willing tool for any ruling government to use during elections,” she said.

Ubeku therefore read out the group’s requests as captioned in a letter to the U.S. President, Donald Trump through its embassy in Abuja.

She expressed fears that the alleged military involvement in polls could lead to voter apathy, especially during the March 9 elections, which is “capable of posing big threats to credible electioneering process.”

“We are simply saying that the U.S. and other models of democracy should urge the Federal Government for our security agencies to remain non-partisan to avoid voter apathy during the next elections.

“The Nigeria military is a revered and independent institution that must act responsibly without any interference from vested interests and anti-democratic forces that are bent on truncating our young democracy.

“We have Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges facing us as a nation, therefore, the army should focus on tackling that.

“The Nigeria Police is well able to maintain the peace during our elections, and they should be left to handle it since we are not in military dispensation.

“This administration came into power through a free and fair election in 2015, we therefore urge it to work toward ensuring that the 2019 polls are free, credible and peaceful,” Ubeku said.

According to the group, involvement of military in elections is a threat to Nigerian nascent democracy which must be brought to the attention stakeholders, including the diplomatic community. 

Group protests involvement of military in elections

<h1>Maverick activist, Charly Boy, has said that he will lead a peaceful protest to the headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if the agency shifts the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.</h1>

Charly Boy said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

NAN recalls that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, early on Saturday, Feb 16, announced the postponement of the polls to Feb 23 because of “logistics and operational problems”.

The Commission also shifted the state Governorship and legislative elections as well as Council polls in the Federal Capital Territory from March 2 to March 9.

However, reactions have continued to trail the action of the electoral umpire with many Nigerians, especially political players, calling for the resignation of the chairman.

Charly Boy, the Convener of Ourmumudondo Movement, however, noted that he saw the inability of Nigeria to hold the polls on the scheduled date as ‘an act of God’.

He however warned that any further shift of the elections, especially the presidential poll, would be protested by his group.

“I want to believe that what happened on Saturday is some kind of divine intervention, no matter how much things have become so politicised in our environment.

“However, if there is another postponement, we will go to INEC office to tell us what is happening and whether they are truly independent or not.

“Unless they want to set fire on an already tensed situation in the country, I see no reason why INEC should postpone the elections again.

“Nigerian politicians are very desperate to get and hold unto power and it is part of my nationalistic engagement to speak against mindless political criminality in the polity,“ he said.

Charly Boy urged Nigerians, especially the youth, to come out and vote for leaders of their choice in all the elections.

The 68 -year-old activist, who described himself as the ‘President of all frustrated Nigerians’, however, expressed disappointment that the youth failed to rally support for young candidates to realise the “Not Too Young To Run” dream.

He explained that they had earlier initiated the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together, a coalition of young Nigerians vying for office of president, to produce and rally support for one candidate.

“It is my duty to encourage every young Nigerian to come together to form a formidable front to enable them take power from the recycled leaders.

“It is a bit sad that we could not realise that this time around but I urge people to vote who they like because that will form the basis of how we transit in 2023.

“APC and PDP are like the devil and the deep blue sea and I do not want any youth to vote for them, whether one is lesser evil or not, evil is evil.

“With that, we would know who are popular candidates among the young breed and we shall know and keep records of the number of votes they can muster,” he said.

Charly Boy stressed that young people needed to achieve a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s political history and urged them to be united in common struggle for a better Nigeria.

He lamented that Nigerian youths were being deprived of opportunities in the midst of plenty because of bad leadership over the years.

“There is no need an average Nigerian should be angry, my people need to be free from the grip of bad leadership.

“However, I know that the cycle of evil is winding up and we want to see that it happens finally in 2023,”

Charly Boy said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

I will lead protest if INEC shifts elections again - CharlyBoy

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joshua.olomu

Articles written by the author

AfCFTA: Examining Nigeria’s steps toward one Africa Market

Group protests involvement of military in elections

I will lead protest if INEC shifts elections again - CharlyBoy