By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya, said
Nigerian market is a vital potential for African Continental Free iTrade Agreement (AfCFTA) with a robust private sector collaboration.
She said Nigeria can achieve the objectives of the AfCFTA, when public private sector collaboration is entrenched in the implementation system and allowed to flourish.
This was contained in statement signed and issued by Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, FITPN
National President ITPN/ Chairman Inter-Ministerial Committee, NTTSummit 2023.
Declaring the two-day Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo opened in Abuja, with the theme AfCFTA:
“Exploring Intra Africa trade, Tourism and Transportation opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to collaboration”.
Jafiya said :”It will be good to give all the
implementers opportunities to play an incredibly valuable and crucial role in ensuring that the AfCFTA regime succeeds.
She emphasized the potential should not be ignored but be explored and utilized if the country is to benefit from the inherent benefits of the regional economic protocols.
While commending the organizers of the Summit, the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), for providing the forum to discuss the AfCFTA protocols, urging that more platforms should be provided to deepen Nigeria’s understanding of the AfCFTA agreements .
Earlier in his welcome address, National President of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, reiterated that the theme for the 6th edition of the Summit is apt,”It was so chosen because of the need to overcome all obstacles and barriers to the realization of the dream for an all-inclusive trading partnerships for the countries of the African Continent as an entity of a singular market.
Odusanwo stated that like all free trade agreements, the AfCFTA will have both positive and negative effects and thus create both winners and losers, which is why the Summit will also look at how Nigeria as a key player, can be a greater beneficiary of the AfCFTA Agreement given the opportunity and will for all participating institutions to have a common front and synergy of implementation.
Delivering a paper on Blue Economy: Panacea to Sustainable Development of Trades and Transportation in AfCFTA, the Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, called on key players and stakeholders in the various institutional frameworks of the AfCFTA Regime to maximize the Opportunities and benefits of the Agreements for the growth and development of the Nigerian economy and its participation the wider economic bloc of the African Continent.
