Critical stakeholders in non-oil export businesses in Kwara state were on Monday sensitised on opportunities that abound under the African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA) regime in the State.

Speaking at a one-day sensitization programme on AfCFTA, themed, “Positioning MSMEs/Exporters for Opportunities inherent in AfCFTA regime in Kwara”, organized by the Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, the NEPC state coordinator, Hajia Sherifat Musa, said that AfCFTA is a potential market for any serious company or economy due to the arrays of opportunities inherent in its implementation.

The NEPC state coordinator also said that implications of AfCFTA on the activities of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially if it is well acquainted, would bring about positive impact on employment generation and wealth creation which is an indicator of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of poverty alleviation among others.

The programme, which had in attendance, the state commissioners of Ministry of Business, Innovation & Technology, Mrs. Damilola Yusuf-Adelodun and her counterpart from the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Mr AbdulQuawiy Olododo as special guests of honour, was also attended by major stakeholders such as the NCS, NAFDAC, SON, NAQS and SMEDAN, as well as the presence of the Organized Private Sector (OPS) such as the MAN, KWACCIMA, NASSIs, NASME, AFAN, FACAN, and ANE.

Hajia Musa said that the aim of the programme was to create awareness of the concept of AfCFTA for stakeholders and to bring to fore possible risks and loopholes in the initiative for exporters’ information and preparedness to mitigate the inherent challenges of the export market.

“Nigeria being a signatory to the member-states is not leaving any stone unturned due to the significant gains and opportunities in the AfCFTA. As the second biggest Trade negotiation bloc, after the World Trade Organization, the member-states tend to reap preferential access to African markets worth $504.17bn in (Goods) and $162billion in (Services) sectors.

“However, the news recently has it that, Nigeria missed out on the first phase of the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) because it failed to submit the Trade Concessions. If this ugly development goes unabated, there is a tendency that the expectation of Nigeria in the gains accruable in the AfCFTA implementation would be dashed.

“Meanwhile, the World Bank reported that about “600 million jobs will be needed in the next 15 years to absorb the growing global workforce, especially in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa”.

On the expectations, she said that the knowledge gap in the AfCFTA implementation in Kwara state and Nigeria is expected to bridge at the end of the programme, adding that, “this will make the participants harness their export potentials by hitting the ground running in the opportunities affordable in the AfCFTA regime by virtue of the presence of our resource persons.

The NEPC boss said that the agency is structured to have direct impact on export activities in Nigeria, adding that it is poised to continue to transform the export landscape through continuous support and assistance required to guide the nation’s exporters.

“Already, big strides are being made in this direction under the worthy leadership of the ED/CEO, Dr. Ezra Yakusak, who underscores the need to promote export business under a new initiative, Tagged Export for survival campaign. A strategy designed to create awareness on benefits of export”.

She implored participants to maximise the benefits of the programme to advance the course of non-oil export business for the economic growth of Kwara.

In one of the papers presented at the programme, titled, Guided trade initiatives and other essential tools for the Participating MSMEs and Exporters in the Implementation of AfCFTA Regime in Nigeria, delivered by a lecturer in the Department of Politics and Governance, Kwara State University (KWASU), Dr. Ibrahim Salawu, recommended that the state government under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq should immediately erect a Free Trade Zone in the State.

“Furthermore, the Kwara State Government is urged to incorporate potential benefits of AfCFTA objectives into its economic blueprint.

“Kwara State should also create synergy between the various locales of Commerce and the leadership of other relevant economic agents in the state to continuously engage the various aspects of the Guided Trade Initiative and AfCFTA.

“A further democratization and devolution of the advocacy channels to states and local governments for better mapping and increase in the number of MSMEs and registered exporters. A lot of them are still operating outside the radar of government for fear of being dragged into the tax net.

“Lastly, federal and state governments are equally urged to urgently provide tax incentives to MSMEs that show uncommon desire to comply with international best practices necessary for a smooth implementation of the Guided Trade Initiative and AfCFTA.

“If heeded, volume and value of MSMEs trades under the AfCTA in Nigeria will experience a boost, the frontier opportunities of the exporters in line with the NEPC mandate would be enhanced, and the world will be the market for Nigerian products, and her balance of trade would have been restored”.