EPA: NACCIMA urges Nigeria to set measurable quality standards for local production

As the European Union continues to make trade advances to ECOWAS through its Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) says the country needs to set for itself specific and measurable minimum local production targets that meet the EU’s quality, sanitary and phytosanitary standards and implement a roadmap to achieve these targets.

Bassey Edem, president, NACCIMA, said in a statement that this would guarantee sustained value for EU opening its market completely from day one.

The EPA is a trade agreement between the EU and ECOWAS, targeted at guaranteeing free trade between the two blocs.

While the EU opens its market completely from day one, West Africa will remove import tariffs only partially over a 20-year transition period.

Edem said Nigeria should refrain from signing the agreement until the country’s infrastructure and productive capacity improved, such that exports would benefit from the agreement and output from the sensitive sectors would be able to compete with import from the EU.

“Despite the fact that the weakening of the naira has made imports more expensive, poor infrastructure and high cost of production connote that there will be few local alternatives that would qualify for exports to the EU (given the sanitary and phytosanitary standards of compliance required),” he said.

“There is further indication that there are even fewer commodities that can compete with foreign goods imported into the country even with the tariff restrictions. Tariff restrictions, even those as high as 35 percent do not guarantee the development of the local industry but will ensure that the imports are expensive where there are no alternatives. There will still be a steady stream of these imports and the local industry would not be able to compete,” he stated.

He advised that if Nigeria must adopt it, there should be more emphasis on the inclusion of a review clause that ensures a review of the agreement every 5 years, using agreed indicators and member states right to pull out, if the agreement proves to be disadvantageous to their economy in line with items (in line with the agreement),” he said.

“There should be more emphasis on working out specific modalities with the EU and its private sector and relate this to the EPA to locate production plans in West Africa in a joint venture arrangement to take advantage of raw materials for EU market in line with items. This would greatly improve industrialisation in the ECOWAS region and mot the issue of sensitive industries over 20 year period,” he further said.

He advised the country should tarry a while to allow for the effects of “Brexit’ on the Nigerian economy in particular and global economy as a whole.

ODINAKA ANUDU