Lawyers, Others Confident AFCFTA Would Be Signed Sooner Than Later

By Theodora Kio-Lawson

The Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business
Law (NBA-SBL), Seni Adio, SAN has expressed optimism that the
African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) would be
successful signed in the nearest future.

Seni who was recently inaugurated into the presidential
committee for Impact and Readiness Assessment of the Africa
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), by President Muhammadu
Buhari, spoke at the Africa Trade Forum 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Adio, who spoke exclusively to BusinessDay Law Editor, stated that
he was confident that the impact and readiness assessment
committee, whose report is due in nine weeks, would make a good
case for the signing of the AfCFTA. He thus, urged legal
practitioners to stay at the forefront of ongoing reforms, as the
AFCFTA is expected to open a new vista of opportunities not just
for practitioners in the area of trade law but for all lawyers.

Also speaking at the forum, Joy Kategewa, Africa Regional Office
head, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, disclosed
that for the AFCFTA to work, all stakeholders must give some
serious thought to how Intra-Africa trade can positively affect
Foreign Direct Investment. She said, “The sort of investment that
will make the AfCFTA significant is one that gets us to build
capacity and scale up Intra Africa trade.

Policy must work with skill and at the same time with
enterprise.” Hippolyte Fofack, chief economist and director,
research and cooperation department, African Export Import
(Afriexim) bank, spoke of the banks faith in the AfCFTA, noting
that through it, the AU has given purpose to young Africans who
aspire to greatness, as it deals with Africa’s biggest challenge –
trade financing. “Afriexim Bank greatly believes in the AfCFTA. We
believe that it is the most important thing happening in Africa. It
is no longer theoretical or hypothetical. It is now real,” Fofack
said.

He further disclosed that the Afriexim bank was now focused on
working with young African entrepreneurs to develop bankable
projects around the continent. Also dwelling on the challenges and
gaps in trade financing across Africa, Ambassador Albert Muchanga,
United Nations Commissioner for Trade spoke of ‘Agenda 2063’.
According to him, Agenda 2063 is a ten-year deliverable plan that
can be achieved successfully with the implementation of the
AfCFTA.

The 2018 Africa Trade Forum hosted by Nigeria’s Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Investment, and coorganised by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), The Rockefeller
Foundation, and the African Union Commission (AUC), brought
together key stakeholders from across the continent – political and
governance spheres; private and public sector; entrepreneurs,
philanthropists; academia, researchers, and development partners,
to discuss the process for realizing the African Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The AfCFTA was signed in March 2018 by 44 African countries and,
if ratified, will become one of the world’s largest trading blocs.
It is also the biggest trade agreement signed since the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) was established, bringing together 1.3 billion
people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $2
trillion in a single market.

The agreement aims to provide improved competition and lower
business costs. BusinessDay recalls that the Chairman of the
Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), Seni
Adio, SAN alongside other critical stakeholders, were on Monday
October 22, 2018 inaugurated into the Presidential Committee for
Impact and Readiness Assessment of the Africa Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The committee charged with the responsibility of identifying
short, medium and long-term measures to prepare Nigerian businesses
for the take-off of the AfCFTA trading bloc; review the trade
remedy options to safeguard the Nigerian economy from predatory and
other unfair trade practices, is expected to submit its reports in
12 weeks.

The NBA-SBL since its annual business law conference in June
2018, where it provided a platform for stakeholder consultation on
the endorsement of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
(AfCFTA), has continued to engage with the Nigeria Office for Trade
Negotiations and other relevant stakeholder towards the signing and
implementation of the AfCFTA.

The annual business law conference resolved that bar
associations and large law firms in Africa with the support of
their governments, must position the legal profession to maximize
the benefits of free trade by seizing the initiative to reorganize
the profession and guide the inevitable disruption to the
profession that will be enabled by the AfCFTA, artificial
intelligence and local competition by global law firms.

It was also agreed that the Section on Business Law should
deepen the understanding of trade law within Nigeria by
establishing a specialist Trade Law Committee within its
organisation and facilitate training seminars on international
trade law and negotiations for public and private sector
lawyers.

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