Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the African Continental Free Trade Area would overcome the limitations of Africa’s tiny, fragmented markets, and it will have a significant impact on trade inside the continent in terms of both commodities and services.
According to Nairametrics, the Nigerian Diaspora is the forerunner in keeping up with the rest of the globe, the Vice President added.
This was stated on Twitter by Osinbajo on Thursday night, referencing his most recent trip to King’s College London.
The Vice President disclosed that African nations were establishing a single continental market by drawing on the pan-African history of leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, while other regions of the world were reconsidering or abandoning regional integration accords.
“The AfCFTA will overcome the limitations of Africa’s small, fragmented markets, and its influence on business inside the continent, in terms of products and services, would be enormous,” he said.
In his lecture at King’s College London, the vice president noted that by creating the African Continental Free Trade Area, Africa had set exemplary examples.
He continued by saying that this would be special to ensure that the continent’s regional value chains receive adequate attention.
“In addition to their sizeable remittances, which increased from 37 billion in 2010 to 96 billion in 2011, they are a source of strength.
“We witnessed the Ethiopian Diaspora’s financial support for the construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Kenya has also granted permission for a Diaspora Investment Fund, allowing Kenyans who reside overseas to make secure investments back home.
“Africa should organize itself to make use of its Diaspora rather than bemoan the brain drain.”
In 2022, the African Continental Free Trade Area saw a 20% rise in intra-African commerce.
The Economic Commission for Africa’s acting executive secretary, Antonio Pedro, revealed this at the ninth session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Niamey, Niger.
Notwithstanding the growth, he said it fell short of the commission’s goal of 52%.
In his words, “However, the percentage of commerce within Africa has increased from roughly 13% before the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement was adopted to about 20% at the moment, but that is still insufficient because other areas are trading among themselves, I mean, more than 70% of Europe and Asia. Hence, that is undoubtedly our goal.”
