Airline owners in Nigeria want the Federal Government to withhold plans to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area Treaty (AfCFTA) warning that the pact holds dire consequences for the economy, particularly for the aviation and manufacturing industries.
The AfCFTA is a flagship project of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and is aimed at creating a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments. The Federal Government has signified its intention to sign the treaty during the African Heads of States meeting slated for March 21 – 22, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Chairman of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Nogie Meggison who spoke at a press conference in Lagos yesterday faulted Nigeria’s participation in (AfCFTA) as “a hasty decision taken by civil servants without any input from private sector investors who would be the executioners of the policy on behalf of the Nigerian government.”
He also condemned the signing of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) also known as Open Sky Agreement at the just concluded AU meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia noting that the two policies could wreck severe havoc on the economy.
Said Meggison, “We are not aware of any Impact Assessment Studies done by the federal government to ascertain the likely impact of such an immediate implementation of SAATM/AfCFTA on the Nigerian domestic airline market, the economy in terms of capital flight and on the employment of our teeming youths who cannot find jobs as things currently stand
“Nigeria cannot afford to rush into signing of AfCFTA which will give unfettered access into the Nigerian market and is likely to erode the good work Government has so far put in place to diversify the economy and reverse the gains of the present administration in reviving the economy out of recession,” he added.
Meggison said rather than rush to sign the AfCFTA, the Federal Government should first push for free visa entry policy, into all African countries for Nigerian businessmen.
Said Meggison, “Sadly, it is a well known fact that it is a herculean task for Nigerians to get visas to travel into many African countries. Nigerians require over 34 visas to travel within Africa alone. This is an issue that needs to be addressed first before the full implementation of SAATM or the signing of AfCFTA
“It is worthy of note that a country like Ethiopia, which is a strong pusher of this Treaty, makes 45 per cent of its income from Nigeria. Yet Ethiopia has a Visa on Arrival policy for over 40 countries. But sadly, and with disrespect, Nigeria is not included among them. So how do we compete with Ethiopia?
“Similarly, Customs tariff (importation duty, levies and taxes) is not uniform across the continent. This poses a challenge to the AfCFTA because it will impact significantly on its success and gains or otherwise to Nigeria.
“Government is yet to come up with a clear policy or mandate of what we want to achieve by signing the AfCFTA or how we will gain from it as a nation. While the AfCFTA has clear objectives, Nigeria as a nation is yet to come up with clear goals that reflect the interest of the airline operators of Nigeria (AON), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) or Nigerian entrepreneurs in general”.
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