Why Nigeria May Not Maximise Gains From ACFTA, PIB – Expert

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

A logistics expert, Mubarak Ibrahim Mahmoud, has cautioned that Nigerians will not benefit maximally from Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (ACFTA) and the newly signed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) because of the lack of human capacity to occupy strategic positions in these sectors.

Mahmoud, a marine officer/ Offshore oil and gas expert, lamented that Nigeria does not have skilled persons in the logistics field to fill the positions that would be created by trade agreement.

The expert, who authored a book on the lack of human capacity in the logistics sector, said unless the gap is filled, other African citizens would fill up the space and further compound the lack of employment, insecurity and other challenges in Nigeria.

Citing the recently ratified African continental free trade area agreement as an example, he stressed that the African continental free trade area agreement was ratified by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 1st of January, 2021, noting that reluctant of Nigeria to ratify the agreement initially continue to create a very big problem in the African continent because of the relevance and importance of Nigeria as a block but eventually persuasively, some other trade blocks around world lobby it and get Nigeria key into the pact.

According to him, “We know that African continental agreement is the largest free-trade pact in the world today, so now if Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa rectifies this, do we actually have the players that will play in that Arena? The answer is no.

“In the absence of having Nigerians who are qualified enough and sufficient in number enough because the space in the arena is big, so we need plenty Nigerians to fill in that arena but in the absence of that other African citizens would come and fill in that space further compounding our lack of employment, our insecurity problems and challenges.”

He opined that the book will allow Nigerian universities to quickly swing into action and begin to train the army of logistics, specialist, practitioners players that will fit in that opportunity presented by the African continental free trade area in Nigeria and even other African countries because the trade pact allows anybody to come in and capitalise on the trade pact in order to harness and take any opportunity they can find in Nigeria and Nigerians can go outside and do the same.

He added that if Nigerians do not train this army of logistics soldiers that they need to fill in these trade opportunities and gaps, other African countries will fill it up.