Nigeria Skips African Summit In Blow To Free Trade Deal

President Mohammadu Buhari will not attend the African Union summit in Rwanda this week in a blow to plans to launch a major free trade treaty across 54 countries

President Muhammadu Buhari will not attend the African Union summit in Rwanda this week, an official statement said Sunday, in a blow to plans to launch a major free trade treaty across 54 countries.

AFP report continues:

The meeting in Kigali is intended to formally launch the African Continental Free Trade Area Treaty, which Nigeria's cabinet endorsed last Wednesday.

Buhari was scheduled to leave Abuja on Monday ahead of Wednesday's launch but pulled out to allow for more consultations.

"Mr President will no longer be travelling to Kigali for the event because certain key stakeholders in Nigeria indicated that they had not been consulted, for which reasons they had some concerns on the provisions of the treaty," the statement said.

"Consequently, Mr President's decision is to allow time for broader consultations on the issue."

The organized labour union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), urged Buhari not to sign the deal.

"We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this," said NLC President Ayuba Wabba. "We have no doubt this policy initiative will spell the death knell of the Nigerian economy."

The AU decided to go ahead with the treaty in 2012 aiming to establish a single liberalized market for trade in goods and services.

The agreement sets up a negotiated rules-based system in order to expand intra-African trade from its very low base of 14%, the Nigerian presidency said.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer and with a population of 190 million, is a massive market.

But the fall in the price of oil sparked recession and Buhari has resorted to a protectionist economic policy with a long list of products banned from importation.

Why Buhari Cancelled Rwanda Trip — FG

Daily Trust reports that President Muhammadu Buhari cancelled his trip to Rwanda for the signing of the Continental Free Trade Area framework in order to allow more time for input from more Nigerian stakeholders. 

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tope Adeleye Elias-Fatile, explained this in a statement on Sunday. 

The media office of the Presidency made the statement available to State House correspondents. 

Buhari had earlier been scheduled to leave for Kigali on Monday for an extraordinary meeting of the African Union Heads of State and Government billed to hold Tuesday for the signing of the AfCFTA agreement. 

Some of his advance team members were in Kigali when the news of the cancellation of the trip broke; while others, comprising protocol staff, security officers and journalists were yesterday recalled from Murtala International Airport, Lagos, where they were to take off. 

The Federal Executive Council had Wednesday given President Buhari the go-ahead to sign the framework agreement for the AfCFTA. 

The council had also approved that Nigeria express her interest in hosting the secretariat of the AfCFTA. 

Meanwhile, the organized labour, through the Nigeria Labour Congress, had last weekend pleaded with Buhari not to sign the CFTA, warning that it would destroy Nigeria's economy.

It had described the proposed signing of the CFTA as "a renewed, extremely dangerous and radioactive neoliberal policy initiative being driven by the Ministry of Trade and Investment that seeks to open our seaports, airports and other businesses to unbridled foreign interference never before witnessed in the history of the country. 

"This policy initiative, for instance, will make it possible for a foreign airline to directly do local scheduled flights without employing Nigerians. Owing to the sensitivity of this policy or its possible fall-outs on our economy, those driving it were directed to consult the Nigerian local business community and organized labour.

“However, we at the organized labour were not consulted. Information reaching us suggests that the relevant business community has not been consulted. The drivers of this policy initiative, without consulting the relevant stake holders for possible impact assessment, have perfected a document which President Muhammadu Buhari will sign at Kigali on March 21, 2018. We, at the NEC, are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this.”