AGOA extension: Obstacles Nigeria must clear to win bigger in US market

By Merit Ibe, [email protected] 

The extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has reopened a major window for Nigeria to expand exports to the United States, create jobs and earn more foreign exchange.

But experts warn that the country may struggle to take full advantage unless it tackles weak production capacity, logistics, poor infrastructure, inconsistent product standards and other bottlenecks that have continued to limit the competitiveness of Nigerian goods abroad.

The warning followed the signing of legislation by United States President Donald Trump on September 2, 2026, extending AGOA until December 31, 2028.

The extension provides eligible African countries with preferential, including duty-free, access to the U.S. market for more than 1,800 products.

However, the experts said market access alone would not translate into increased Nigerian exports, arguing that the country must first develop the capacity to produce goods that meet international standards, secure the necessary certifications and supply the U.S. market consistently at competitive prices.

Speaking on the implications of the extension, David Etim, Project Implementation Team Lead, Calabar and Gulf of Guinea Municipal and Trade Centre Limited by Guarantee, described AGOA as an access-to-market arrangement but said Nigeria had failed to maximise the opportunity over the years because many of its products could not meet the standards and conformity requirements of the American market.

“AGOA was on for about 25 years and Nigeria did not take any meaningful benefit from it. Why? Because we were not able to meet the production standards required by AGOA. We were not meeting the product standards and conformity requirements,” he said.

Etim said Nigeria could learn from smaller African countries such as Lesotho, which had successfully used AGOA to export finished textiles and clothing to the U.S. because its products met the required standards.

He also criticised Nigeria’s continued reliance on the export of raw commodities, saying the country would derive greater economic benefits by using AGOA to promote value addition, manufacturing and industrial production.

“Lesotho was exporting textiles and finished clothes to America. Why? Because they conform to standards. Those are value-addition products, ready for the market. Nigeria still exports raw cocoa and raw coconut that will go there and be processed into coconut oil or other products. We are not adding value,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria must invest in accredited laboratories, modern testing and certification facilities, quality-control systems, traceability and improved packaging, while government agencies and the private sector should work together to identify products with export potential and the standards required to access the U.S. market.

He also cited repeated challenges with agricultural exports, including the rejection of products such as beans and hibiscus over contamination, pesticide residues and poor post-harvest handling.

Etim explained that agricultural exporters must ensure that products are properly cultivated, treated, stored and transported to prevent chemical residues and other contaminants from affecting their acceptability in international markets.

“If you use a pesticide, there should not be a residual value of that pesticide on the product by the time somebody is consuming it,” he said.

He warned that failure to comply with destination-market requirements could result in substantial losses, particularly where rejected consignments are returned to exporters.

“Some of them even get their goods shipped back to you. So you pay double the cost. You ship something to America, America returns it back to you at your own expense,” he said.

Beyond standards, Etim identified inefficient production systems, high logistics costs and inadequate exporter capacity as major obstacles to Nigeria’s competitiveness.

He acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to reposition Nigerian exporters but said the country still had considerable ground to cover.

“NEPC is doing a lot of work in trying to reposition Nigerian exporters, let’s be honest, but it is still a far cry from where we should be,” he said.

The trade expert stressed that export business required specialised knowledge, investment and preparation, rather than being treated as an activity that businesses could enter casually.

He further warned that the two-year extension could prove too short for Nigeria to resolve the structural weaknesses that have prevented businesses from taking full advantage of AGOA.

“Two years is not enough time for us to really get the work that we need to get done. Not enough time,” he said.

Etim urged the government and private sector to use the extension period to improve product standards, value addition, production efficiency, logistics and exporter capacity, stressing that Nigeria’s challenge was not limited to the U.S. market.

“The issue is not about availability of markets. It’s about us being market-ready. Whether it is America, whether it is China, whether it is Europe, whether it is South America, or even within Africa under AfCFTA, we have to be market-ready in terms of quality and standards,” he said.

Similarly, renowned agriculture, export value-chain and trade expert, Dr. John Isemede, expressed scepticism about Nigeria’s ability to derive significant benefits from the renewed AGOA arrangement, given the country’s performance over the past 25 years.

Isemede, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), said the extension should prompt Nigeria to critically examine what it had achieved under previous trade agreements and determine whether it had the capacity to take advantage of the renewed opportunity.

He argued that Nigeria remained poorly prepared for AGOA because of persistent weaknesses in technology, infrastructure, investment, value addition and production capacity.

“Some African countries, unlike Nigeria, gained from AGOA and will still continue to gain because of their level of technology, investments, preparedness and infrastructure on ground to engage the United States,” Isemede said.

He said Nigeria risked missing the opportunity again if it failed to address the structural problems that had continued to undermine its export competitiveness.

“My fear is when looking at our past and the data, and our level of preparedness at home, as government officials control our economy instead of the private sector members. Looking back at the past 25 years — from 2000 to 2015 and 2025 — what do we have at the table to show the world?” he asked.

Isemede also questioned Nigeria’s experience with previous international trade arrangements, drawing a comparison between AGOA and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trade arrangements with the European Union under the Lomé Conventions.

He said Nigeria should not wait for another review of AGOA before taking action, but should use the period up to 2028 to develop a measurable national strategy for increasing exports to the U.S. market.

“What can we do between now and 2028 on AGOA with our level of technology, lack of value addition along the chain, lack of quality infrastructure, high bank charges, high freight charges and lack of vessels to engage?” he asked.

According to Isemede, Nigeria’s export challenge goes beyond securing preferential market access. The country must build the productive and logistical capacity required to convert such access into actual exports, jobs, industrial growth and foreign exchange earnings.

He also called for a review of Nigeria’s performance under other regional and international initiatives, including the D-8 cooperation framework and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), arguing that the country needed to identify why previous agreements had not delivered the expected economic transformation.

The experts therefore urged the Federal Government and private sector to develop a clear national AGOA strategy that identifies priority export products, sets measurable targets, improves standards and certification infrastructure, promotes value addition and strengthens supply chains.

They said Nigeria should use the extension not merely as additional time to access the U.S. market, but as a deadline to put its industrial and export ecosystem in order.

With preferential access alone unable to guarantee competitiveness, they stressed that Nigerian products must meet international standards, be produced consistently, arrive in markets on time and compete on quality and price.

The renewal of AGOA, they said, should therefore be viewed as an opportunity and a challenge for Nigeria to upgrade its industries, strengthen its export capacity and build a production-driven economy capable of competing effectively in the global market.