The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s Export Group has trained local exporters as eight African countries have commenced exports under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’s Guided Trade Initiative.
The Chairman of MANEG, Mrs Odiri Erewa-Meggison, revealed this at a two-day capacity-building training for exporters on Tuesday in Lagos.
The training was organised by MANEG, in partnership with British American Tobacco Nigeria, Indorama Group, Gongoni Company, Cadbury Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria, Rite Foods and Spectra Industries.
According to Erewa-Meggison, as the government continues to take steps to ensure the country’s participation in the AfCFTA, MANEG is determined to build the capacity of its members to optimise their understanding of the free trade agreement and take full advantage of the benefits.
She said, “So far, the practical implementation of AfCFTA started in September 2022, with the export of coffee products from Rwanda to Ghana; and the export of Exide Battery from Kenya to Ghana, under the Guided Trade Initiative within the eight state parties that have met the minimum requirements for trade under the agreement.
“The state parties include Rwanda, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania and Tunisia. These countries are already operating on the GTI without Nigeria.”
She said MANEG was optimistic that Nigeria would be among the state parties that would be participating on the platform.
That, she said, informed the decision to collaborate with the National Action Committee -AfCFTA secretariat to train exporters and equip them with the requisite information to trade under the AfCFTA.
She added, “This training is part of our efforts to reposition MANEG to serve in its capacity as the leading and most recognised non-oil export promotion advocacy group in the country. I enjoin every participant to be involved in the conversations, taking in as much as possible information from this two-day training and asking the relevant questions so that we extract full value from the training.
“MANEG is keen to collaborate with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors to promote and protect the interests of non-oil exporters in Nigeria.”
