The Secretary to the Government of the federation, Boss Mustapha Monday urged African governments to resist the pressure to erect trade barriers for intra-African trade to flourish.
Mustapha stated this at the Africa Public Private Partnership (PPP) summit held in Abuja.
He said, “Currently, intra-African trade amongst African states is about 10 % of total exports. This is the lowest amongst other regions in the world. But we strongly believe that with the initiative of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement the situation will drastically improve.
“There is also the need for financial sector development by strengthening regulatory and institutional frameworks to improve governance and increase competition, improving access to finance and financial literacy, developing payment systems, and enhancing creditor rights. Similarly, access to finance by the private sector is equally very key.
Also speaking at the summit with the theme – “Financing Africa’s Infrastructure through PPP”, the Acting Director General/CEO of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Barr. Joe. A. Michael Ohiani, noted that the vision of African Public Private Partnership Network (APPPN) is to have a network of PPP experts across the African continent.
This, according to him, is to find concrete solutions to bridge infrastructure gap in the continent by bringing together PPP Units, professionals and experts across the continent to design, develop, and implement infrastructure projects in tune with global best practices for infrastructure and service delivery.
