The National Association of Chamber Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has urged the European and America communities to invest in Africa exporters saying that African is the biggest market of exporting.
Director General, NACCIMA, Dr John Isemede threw the challenge when a delegation from the United State House of Representatives paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council [NERC]in Lagos last week.
The National Association of Chamber Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has urged the European and America communities to invest in Africa exporters saying that African is the biggest market of exporting.
Director General, NACCIMA, Dr John Isemede threw the challenge when a delegation from the United State House of Representatives paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council [NERC]in Lagos last week.
Isemede said that Africa Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA] was not put together by Africa adding that the Act, which was put together by the Americans has recorded an unfavourably balance of payment to African and Nigerian exporters.
The DG said that prior to the AGOA convention, the Lome convention 1, 2,3and 4 agreement signed by the Europeans unions with Africans was never in the advantages of the African exporters, saying that the African exporter cannot continue with the act.
‘’We cannot continue taking raw materials from Africa to develop the other parts of the world. Africa is the emerging market and when you talk of air lines ,railways and shipping lines Africa is the place to invest’’, he stated.
‘’If you are not in Africa today you are in the wrong place and when you talk about the American market what is the population of America? Is it half of the population of Africa and we have not looked up to the ECOWAS sub region where we have up to 400 million people’’.
‘’ What we are saying is that we have world standard and we also have local standards and they cannot super-impose their standards on us and it is going to be a win-win situations, so come and invest in Africa ,not just taking raw materials ,come and invest in Africa” he tasked his guests.
According to him, export business is better carried out in Francophone nations pointing out that France has taken her colonies over the years which he described as the principle of assimilation.
‘’We don’t want you to set standards for products that you don’t produce, we don’t want you to bring your own shipping lines and determine prices, what we want is to come and invest in Africa’’, the DG told the American delegation.
He said that over the years, Africans have not benefitted from the exportation of raw materials to America and European nations, stressing that world trade is all about give and take.
‘’ We are prepared to partner with you; we are prepared to go with AGOA, but come and invest in Africa”, he stressed.
He charged the delegates to feed tell their agencies back home to collaborate with Africans for better international trade and favourable balance of trade.
Representing the delegate from the United State, Mr Eric Williams told the participants that the courtesy visit was aimed at collating complaints by the Nigerian exporters, adding that the problems faced by Nigerians will be channeled to the appropriate agencies in the United State of America.
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