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Juliana Taiwo Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday ratified Nigeria’s membership of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, ahead of the formal implementation of the agreement on January 1, 2021.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the 23rd virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said although the implementation of the agreement was initially scheduled to commence in July this year, the plan was stalled by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister who briefed on behalf of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said that the Council ratified Nigeria’s membership of AfCFTA in compliance with the instruction asking parties to the agreement to ratify their membership by December 5, this year.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy signed the agreement on July 7, 2019, in Niamey, Niger Republic, with yesterday’s ratification, Nigeria has beat the deadline scheduled for December this year.
According to him, “The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment presented a memo today (yesterday) asking the Federal Executive Council to ratify Nigeria’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
“You remember that on the July, 7, 2019, Nigeria signed the AfCTA agreement in Niamey during the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU).
“The effective date ought to have been July 2020, but as a result of the pandemic, it was postponed to the 1st of January 2021, and all member-states were given up to the 5th of December to ratify the agreement.
That is precisely what Nigeria did today. The FEC approved the ratification of the membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement. It was ratified and as such, we beat the deadline of the December 5 deadline. Effectively, we hope that by January 1, 2021, the agreement will come into force.”
When fully operational, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating. The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at $3.4 trillion.
