A former Director-General of the Debt Management Office, and an economist at MIVA Open University, a Nigerian online university, Prof. Abraham Nwankwo, has said that Africa, particularly Nigeria, must strengthen its production capacity in order to benefit optimally from world trade.
He said this at an international conference organised by the International Centre For Regional Integration And Trade Research, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
The conference had the theme: “Thirty Years of Nigeria In WTO, Opportunities, Challenges, Prospects”.
Nwankwo,
Nwankwo said that Africa, especially Nigeria, was backward in international trade due to relative poor production.
He said that Africa had a gross domestic product share of 2.6 per cent in world output as against Asia which had 36 per cent.
“This is why Africa has a share of 2.7 per cent of world trade while Asia has 40 per cent,” he said.
The expert said that infrastructure deficit and debilitating public debts were hampering the capacity of Africa to participate well and benefit optimally from world trade.
“Something is wrong with with Africa’s performance in international trade, and it is easy to locate the source of the problem in poor performance in production; so, we must talk seriously about production which is where we get what we trade.
“Discussions on trade must be linked with discussions on infrastructure deficit in Africa, and Nigeria in particular.
“It is so huge that if we use all what is available for infrastructure in Africa, we still need more than 100 billion dollars per annum for the next 20 to 30 years, and we don’t have such money to bridge the infrastructure gap.
“What it means is that we have to borrow. Many African countries are in debt distress but they have infrastructure deficit that require them to borrow more,” he said.
In a lecture he delivered, Muhammed Ladan, a Professor of Regional Economic Integration Law and Practice in Africa, said that Nigeria had benefitted from reduced trade barriers and participated in a rule-based multilateral trading system since it joined the World Trade Organisation in 1995.
The lecture was entitled “Nigeria’s Trajectory Under WTO Reform And African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Implementation”.
He said WTO rules in sectors such as agriculture and intellectual property had been criticised for disproportionately affecting developing developing countries such as Nigeria.
He said Nigeria needed to strengthen domestic sectors and reduce reliance on imports in order to address trade deficits in services and incomes.
The don identified poor infrastructure as a significant obstacle to Nigeria’s economic growth and global competitiveness.
He, however, said that the African Continental Free Trade Area presented Nigeria with an opportunity to expand its trade within the African continent, diversify its economy and boost exports.
“While Nigeria has made efforts to diversify its economy, challenges remain in developing a competitive manufacturing sector due to factors such as unreliable electricity, infrastructure deficits and competition.
“Tapping into digital trade opportunities requires addressing issues such as regulatory fragmentation, cybersecurity and limited access to digital markets for micro, small and medium enterprises.
“While the WTO provides a broader framework for global trade, AfCFTA aims to integrate African economies through trade,” he said.