The chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Kayode Fayemi has charged financial institutions to provide a conducive environment for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) agreement to thrive across the country.
Fayemi while speaking at the ongoing National Action Committee on ACFTA subnational strategy workshop in Abuja on Tuesday, said there are conversations needed for the sectors of the economy especially those that drive to supply chain including the power sector, rail and aviation sector , mining and petroleum , roads and education.
According to him, the Nigeria economy is projected by the African Development Bank (ADB) to grow by 2.9 percent in 2021 with the industries such as the agriculture, energy, manufacturing contributing significantly to the GDP.
He said all of these are expected to grow with the inbuilt in technology. “For Nigeria to benefit from these opportunities, the Subnational government need to incorporate consideration for agreement in our development plan at all the Subnational level”.
He further assured that the NGF will continue to partner with the NAC and AFCFTA towards the implementation of the subnational strategy workshop.
Also, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo said that the AFCFTA is interesting to Nigeria because Africa demands finished goods and Nigeria aspires to industrialize and progress beyond export of commodities.
He further said AFCFTA act as a catalyst for Nigeria’s export diversification, by providing preferential access to Nigeria products and services to the huge Africa market which currently sources over 85 percent of imports from outside the continent.
“It also provides immense opportunities for Nigerian companies to expand to Africa especially in areas of oil and gas, manufacturing among others where we have already developed significant domestic capabilities,” he said.
