Nigeria has reduced the processing time for Certificates of Origin under the African Continental Free Trade Area from more than five days to 24 hours, the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office has said.
The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the NACO, Mrs Patience Okala, disclosed this at the third-quarter meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee in Abuja.
Okala attributed the development to the digitisation and automation of the Certificate of Origin process, including registration, verification and certification by the Nigeria Customs Service.
She said the reform would enable Nigerian businesses to access AfCFTA trade preferences faster and reduce delays that could affect their competitiveness in African markets.
The NACO boss also disclosed that the country had facilitated the resolution of eight reported cases of non-tariff barriers since the committee’s second-quarter meeting.
She identified access to finance, standards, logistics, market information and non-tariff barriers as some of the major challenges being addressed through collaboration among government institutions and other stakeholders.
On access to funding, Okala said five Nigerian businesses had applied for financing under the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund following an initial engagement with eligible companies.
According to her, one female-led business had progressed to the next stage with support from NACO.
She said the facility offered Nigerian businesses access to part of the minimum $10m available to help them scale up operations, improve production, strengthen competitiveness and expand into African markets.
Okala further said Nigeria’s AfCFTA implementation efforts had attracted recognition from the AfCFTA Secretariat and other African countries.
She disclosed that Nigeria had been formally invited to lead a peer-learning session on AfCFTA implementation for other African countries during the forthcoming institutional meetings in Zimbabwe.
She said the session would provide an opportunity for Nigeria to share its experience while strengthening continental business linkages and opening up more market opportunities for Nigerian businesses.
Okala said the development would also contribute to job creation, particularly for Nigerian youths.
She listed other major activities undertaken during the quarter to include the hosting of AfCFTA Week, the HerAfCFTA event for women-owned and women-led businesses, the 18th Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers and related institutional meetings, as well as the second edition of the AfCFTA Digital Trade Forum in Lagos.
She said the events provided platforms for discussions on women’s participation in trade, digital trade and investment facilitation, while creating opportunities for Nigerian businesses to benefit from the continental market.
The NACO coordinator also disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in collaboration with NACO, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and the United Nations Development Programme, led Nigerian businesses on a Nigeria-Botswana AfCFTA Trade Mission.
According to her, the mission had already yielded results, with CSO Fashion Academy securing a contract to supply 6,000 T-shirts to a Botswana business.
She added that Chumpy’s Food introduced its instant ready-to-eat rice during the mission and received positive interest from businesses and consumers in Botswana.
On the domestication of the AfCFTA agreement, Okala said Nigeria was making progress, noting that a draft Domestication Bill was currently before the House Committee on Commerce of the National Assembly.
She said Nigeria had also launched the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade initiative to support the implementation of the Digital Trade Protocol and strengthen the country’s digital trade ecosystem.
Okala said the progress recorded during the quarter followed the implementation of decisions reached at the committee’s second-quarter meeting.
She said NACO had completed an Adjustment Fund briefing with Afreximbank for interested companies, activated the Digital Trade Sub-Committee for the implementation of the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade initiative and established a communication channel for Adjustment Fund enquiries.
However, she said the development of metrics and a measurement framework for Customs AfCFTA procedures remained a third-quarter action item.
Looking ahead, Okala said the fourth-quarter priorities would focus on simplifying the AfCFTA framework to enable more Nigerian businesses to understand and take advantage of opportunities available under the continental trade agreement.
She said the government would intensify stakeholder engagement, continue its subnational engagement tour, organise webinars and peer-learning activities, and develop additional simplified AfCFTA tools for businesses.
Okala said the ultimate objective was to increase the number of Nigerian businesses trading under AfCFTA, expand the presence of Nigerian products in African markets, strengthen links between producers and buyers, and improve access to finance and standards required for international competitiveness.
She urged members of the Central Coordination Committee and other stakeholders to strengthen collaboration and ensure that AfCFTA moved beyond a policy framework to become a source of concrete economic opportunities for Nigerians.
