Nigeria has ratified its membership of the African free-trade zone due to be launched in January, the government said, after initial reluctance to join the bloc for fear of exposing local industries to dumping by countries outside Africa.
A cabinet meeting on Wednesday endorsed the president’s decision to join the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) following the signing of agreements last year, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said.
Mohammed said countries have until December to ratify the agreement, whose launch was pushed back after the new coronavirus pandemic made its original start date untenable.
To date, 30 countries out of the 55 states in the African Union have both signed and ratified the AfCFTA. Only Eritrea has yet to sign, according to Tralac, a South Africa-based trade law organization.
Source: Tralac.org