Buhari set to sign African free trade pact

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

By this, he will be signing the Phase one of the agreement in the course of his attendance at the Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union and 12th Extraordinary Summit on AfCFTA in Niamey, Niger Republic in a few days’ time.

Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, confirmed this development in statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

A country that signs the first level will then go into country level discussions leading to treaties after safeguards are agreed to.

In accepting the reports as submitted, Adesina said the President made it clear that Nigerian government would be seeking to include terms that engender the development of policies that promote African production, among other benefits.

President Buhari: “Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy but also a continental manufacturing agenda.

“Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of `made in Africa goods’. That is, goods and services made locally with dominant African content in terms of raw materials and value addition.

“If we allow unbridled imports to continue, it will dominate our trade. The implication of this is that coastal importing nations will prosper while landlocked nations will continue to suffer and depend on aid.”