The African Development Bank (AfDB) has expressed optimism that
Nigeria, the largest country on the continent will soon ratify the
Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement.
The Director, Industrial and Trade Development of AfDB, Dr Abdu Mukhtar, said this in an interview with newsmen on Sunday.
The CFTA was adopted on March 21, 2018 and has presently been ratified by 22 countries.
It seeks to create a single market for goods and services and
movement of persons to deepen economic integration of the continent
among others.
According to Mukhtar, Nigeria is an important country for the CFTA
and for the agreement to be effective useful and really worthwhile,
Nigeria has to be part of it.
He said:“From what we are hearing, I think Nigeria is finalising their discussions with key stakeholders.
“I understand the Nigeria government has been making consultations with the private sector, manufacturers association and so on.
“I have been talking to some of these people in Nigeria and I think
the reason why they have been skeptical is that they don’t understand
what is in it for them.
“So, what we could also do as a bank to provide that support to the Nigerian private sector is to organise a session for them.
“We did that two weeks ago in Abidjan as a test case, brought all the
business people in Cote d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries and
basically explained to them what the CFTA is.
“The private sector is the engine of growth in any country, so it is
natural that they are apprehensive about what it means for them.
“They are apprehensive of whether it will benefit them or whether
their market will be swollen by companies from other countries.
“So, I think that is the issue, but we are very confident that the
Nigerian government will conclude on this consultation very soon and
officially join.’’
Mukhtar, however said that the AfDB was working at ensuring the
success of the CFTA and had gotten approval from its Board of Directors
to support submission of the CFTA secretariat.
He said the location for the secretariat was still being deliberated
upon by the African Union adding that the AfDB had already secured the
finances to support the secretariat where ever it was situated.
The director said the African Union was aware that establishing the
secretariat as soon as possible was very important while expressing
optimism that it would be concluded by this year.
On integrating the continent through trade, Mukhtar said it was important to ensure the right policies were put in place.
He said the bank was working on that and also providing a lot of advisory services to countries in their trade policy agenda.
He said integration also required adequate infrastructure, building the right roads and so on and also custom reforms.
Mukhtar said AfDB had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Korean Customs Service to work with a number of countries to help
them orgarnise their customs services.
He said the bank was looking at selecting six countries in the first
phase, adding that he would be in South Korea soon to finalise the
discussion on the countries that would benefit from this.
On the bank’s project in the aviation sector, Mukhtar said it was
still ongoing as the bank would not relent in its effort to support the
expansion of airlines.
He said “The project is still ongoing, we have supported air links ,
we are doing it in two ways , one is to establish the basic
infrastructure, supporting airport that will act as house in various
regions.
“And secondly, working with airlines that will connect effectively
across the continent and one good example is the Ethiopian airlines.
“The bank has actually supported the expansion of Ethiopian airlines,
we have recently supported air Cote d’ Ivoire which is also expanding
its routes, the linkages to various places across the continent.
“We are playing and will continue to play a great role in this because for the bank, integration is really important.’’
He urged business owners and entrepreneurs on the continent to ensure
they trade within the continent to increase our rate of trade to meet
up with the Europeans and Latin Americans.
On AfDB’s involvement with Nigeria, Mukhtar said the bank was doing a
lot of projects in Nigeria, adding that Nigeria was an important member
of the bank.
He said the bank was positive about Nigeria and its entrepreneurs and urged it to take advantage of the bank when necessary.
“Nigeria should see it as their own bank, come to us whenever they
have good projects that they want financing, especially on the private
sector side.
“People think the AFDB only work with government but the key message I
will like you to pass on is that we do a lot of private sector business
as well .
“And we will like to work more with the private sector business and support their expansion.’’ (NAN)
Popular News
-
Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer affecting the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen. Malignant mesothelioma is the most serious o...
-
A broadcast journalist with DAAR Communications Plc, Ms Ijeoma Osamor, testified on Friday at the Presidential Election Petition Court (P...
-
A witness has said neither Atiku Abubakar nor President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should be declared as presiden...
-
Drivers of ride-hailing apps in the country, Uber, Bolt, LagRide and Indriver, have embarked on a nationwide strike on Wednesday, June 7. ...
-
The daughter of Pele, Kely Nascimento, who is apparently distraught at his passing, has confirmed her father's death at the age of 82...
-
Veteran actress, Kate Henshaw has taken to Instagram to share adorable photos with her daughter. The thespian shared photos of them rock...
-
The Monkeypox disease has been declared as a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation, on Saturday. The global health bod...
-
Cristiano Ronaldo allegedly gave his agent Jorge Mendes an ultimatum to seal a move to either Bayern Munich or Chelsea last summer or be...
-
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new announcement to Nigerians. The NCDC said that the COVID-19 Omicron...
-
The United States has announced that starting March 1, 2023, it will increase visitor visa validity from 24 months to 60 months for Niger...
-
Italy have been crowned champions of the 2020 European Championship after defeating England 3-2 in penalties on Sunday night, July 11. ...
-
“Every improvement contributing to your outstanding experience is our daily motivation.” - Remitano Every product and feature on the Rem...
-
For the quarter, added 537,000 residential and small enterprise business internet customers versus 380,000 within the prior year quarter....
-
SMS marketing is a marketing channel which allows businesses to message customers with marketing messages through SMS, or more commonly kn...
-
Breaking news about iceland country incredible but true if you are interested read the full story iceland team was able to achieve an ...
-
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
-
An Israeli professor has claimed that coronavirus will disappear after 70 days with or without intervention. The unproven claims were ma...
-
The Remitano founding team has always maintained the belief and vision that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are a big step forward for s...
-
Would you believe it if someone tells you that cayenne pepper has the power to stop a heart attack within a minute? Believe it or not, thi...
-
Apparently, ginger, a well-known spice we frequently add to different dishes to enhance the flavor, has the power to prevent cancer. But, i...
- bitcoin
- bitcoin mining
- Coronavirus
- dr anu nigeria
- coronavirus china
- Benefit Of Ginger Water
- Bobrisky
- Buhari
- coronavirus cure
- benefits of drinking milk
- Biafran War
- coronavirus death rate
- coronavirus outbreak
- dede one day mansion
- coronavirus update
- History of Biafra
- How To Make Ginger Water
- eri
- How to save your phone battery
- is 5g dangerous
- Kobe Bryant
- Jennifer Aniston
- kobe bryant family
- latest nigeria news paper
- kobe bryant wife
- latest on nigeria news
- naija news
- Malignant mesothelioma
- nigeria news
- Mesothelioma survival rates
- newspaper online in nigeria
- nigeria news breaking
- nigeria news headline today
- nigeria news of the day
- nigeria news paper online
- nigeria newspaper
- nigeria news paper today
- nigeria news today & breaking
- nigeria newspaper online
- nigerianewspaper
- nigeria newspapers
- Regina Daniels
- online dating scams
- Side Effects Of Eating Corn
- t mobile data usage
- online nigeria news
- what is tiger nut
- tiger nuts
- Tyson Fury
0 comments:
Post a Comment