Former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Carlos Ahenkorah has criticised Nigeria’s “bully attitude” that led to the closure of its land borders from August last year to December this year and has indicated that such incidents would not be condoned under the AfCFTA regime.
Mr. Ahenkorah empathised with Nigeria’s reasoning to safeguard its market and people but disagreed with the option to close its borders to trade.
“If you ask me, I still challenge the rationale for Nigeria to close its borders,” he stated, adding that “they see themselves as big brothers of West Africa and can decide to do what they want to do,” he said on a live interactive programme.
According to Mr. Ahenkorah, Nigeria closed its borders to flex its muscle as the regional superpower owing to some loopholes in the Ecowas Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) but was optimistic that AfCFTA will fill those exposures during its implementation.
“The ECOWAS protocols were couched in a gentleman’s agreement by the heads of states, and there were no dispute resolution mechanisms within that framework; but the AfCFTA has corrected this mistake,” he said.
The former minister’s assertion was propped by the chief executive of the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, who opined that key conflict resolution mechanisms embedded in the AfCFTA protocols will curtail such trade injustice.
The PEF boss, who was also a panelist on the show, dismissed Nigeria’s position of exercising its prerogative to close its borders as a result of its responsibilities towards the ETLS, which amongst others, allow free movement of goods within the ECOWAS region.
“There are mechanisms that would allow businesses to report foul behaviour. In ECOWAS, Nigeria is the biggest player so they bully, but in the continental free market, we have other competitive big players who have participated well within the global village for a period and you can’t bully them,” he said citing countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya.
Nigeria closed its land borders in August 2019 in a safeguard measure to eliminate an alarming spate of smuggling which undermined both local production capacity and internal revenue mobilisation.
The decision to close its land borders for over a year has however had some negative impact on its trading public who are now demanding compensation for the damage it has caused to their business, according to Dr. Ken Ukaoha, president of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANT).
“We have even sent a memo in this regard. We are asking for compensation especially for those who have been doing legitimate businesses across the borders,” said Dr. Ukaoha, who joined the conversion virtually.
Source:Business24