President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has said for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to yield expected results, same must be backed by requisite legal framework, right policies, and robust implementation.
Lawan stated this when he received a visiting delegation from the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, led by its newly elected Secretary General, Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Senate President who was represented by the Deputy Senate Leader, Ajayi Boroffice, said the intent behind Nigeria’s decision to sign the agreement on July 7th, 2019, during the 12th Extra-Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Niamey, was to benefit Africans on the continent and outside it.
According to Lawan, aside confronting the challenges of unemployment, and underemployment, which have been a trigger for both regular and irregular migration, the economies of African countries have been characterized by low productivity, reduced efficiency, and the problem of limited resources.
He, therefore, described the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as “a step in the right direction for the growth of African economies, through limited restrictions, leading to the stimulation of trade, commerce, and industry.”
Earlier, the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Mr. Wamkele Mene, in his speech noted that the success of the trade agreement was largely dependent on the measure of benefit accruing to African countries.
“The AfCTA, if it benefits only the big countries in Africa, is not going to work”, Mene said.
