The Transportation Group of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in Nigeria has tasked the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to take full advantage of the potentials in the emerging continental trade.
Leading some members of the Transportation Group at a meeting with MAN in Lagos recently, the Co-Champion, Transportation Group of AfCFTA in Nigeria; Ms Funmi Folorunso, urged MAN to take full advantage of the opening of the Africa continent to unhindered trading among member nations.
According to her, if Nigeria must participate effectively in AfCFTA, transportation must work, and there must be finance. She equally acknowledged that, for Nigeria to effectively participate and take advantage of the continental trading opportunities, the Transportation Group must partner with MAN.
She added that, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has disclosed that for AfCFTA to work effectively for Africa, there is need for about 100 vessels in the next 15 months, that is by 2023.
The Co-Champion, Transportation Group said the concern should be how Nigeria can muster the strength to provide transportation and also the goods to trade under AfCFTA.
Turning to the MAN team that was led to the meeting by its Director General; Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, Ms Folorunso asked: Are your members producing items of need, if No, how can we encourage them to do that and also provide the transportation needs. We want your members to also know that there are opportunities for investments and investors”. “Nigeria needs the required finance to carry the available cargo”, she stressed.
Responding, the DG of MAN corroborated what the Co-Champion of Transportation Group had said about transportation deficit.
“We had cautioned Nigeria before we entered into AfCFTA, we warned that we had matters to settle, we warned government to be circumspect, we knew that there would be limitations in the area of transport infrastructure, not only in Nigeria, but in Africa”, he disclosed.
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According to Ajayi-Kadiri, the fears that MAN have is that Asian countries and China may take advantage because of lack of transportation facilities in Africa.
While expressing the readiness of MAN to partner with AfCFTA in Nigeria, the DG acknowledged that “transportation cost is a major cost for us and there is need to face the challenge and ensure that the cost does not escalate the shelf price of goods”.
He said there is need for in-country business-to-business partnership and that MAN is ready to partner with AfCFTA.
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