Nigeria inaugurates AfCFTA Agriculture Technical Working Group
Share
3 Min Read
As part of the efforts, to promote “Made in Nigeria” goods to African countries and the rest of the world, the Federal Government has inaugurated a Technical Working Group, TWG on the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA.
Speaking during the inauguration in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, Ernest Umakhihe said the Technical Working Group will ensure the initiative of a single continental market as well as reduce tariff and the application of non-tariff barriers to trade among African countries.
Umakhihe further states that as the largest trade and investment block agreement since the creation of the World Trade Organization, WTO, the opportunities surrounding AfTCFTA will boost intra-African trade amongst 1.2 billion people and a cumulative GDP of $3.4 trillion.
He charged the TWG to maintain the highest level of dedication, efficiency and develop strategic initiatives that will ensure seamless implementation of all aspects of the AfCFTA process that concerns the Agriculture sector especially, as it relates to periodic tracking and data collection on productivity, market access, standards, safety of agricultural products as well as wealth and job creation.
For the Director, Planning and Policy Coordination Department in the Ministry, Abdulahi Zubairu, the implementation of a common market in the context of the AfCFTA as a trade block will require a great deal of synergy between and among stakeholders in the Agricultural sector in order to utilise the opportunities presented to drive comparative and competitive advantage.
Zubairu added that ‘’it is in the above context that a Ministerial TWG was conceived to coordinate all intrinsic and extrinsic issues in the sector along the respective Value Chain. He said it is a deliberate initiative to track, document with empirical precision report on progress to guide the sector towards taking its rightful position in the AfCFTA process’’.
Responding on behalf of the TWG, the Chairman and Deputy Director in the Ministry, Ibrahim Tanimu promised that the Committee would work assiduously to ensure that Agricultural component of the AfCFTA delivers on its mandate.
