AfCFTA: Appreciating Speaker Tajudeen Abass' contribution to continental goals

By Philip Agbese

The leadership of the House of Representatives under the Speaker of the 10th Assembly Rt Hon Tajudeen Abbas embodies significant revolutionary reforms that has rekindled the institution’s socio-economic, political trajectory towards efficiency with a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s legislative global and continental engagements.

Since ascending the mantle of leadership of the House of Representatives, Speaker Abbas has demonstrated unbridled tenacity and resilience with a consistent determination to guide the House of Representatives with honesty, integrity and confidence. His unparalleled ability to inspire others with a vision and purpose has undeniably fostered the actualization of his agenda to rebuild public confidence and deliver good governance as evidenced by the numerous legislative accomplishments attributed to the 10th Assembly.

Speaker Abbas’s proven expertise in institutional development has been instrumental in the development of policies vital to our quest for a more prosperous Nigeria where economic growth is translated in wealth and employment creation, and guided by sustainable consistent policies.

As a result of the robust institutional reforms motivated by Speaker Abbas, Nigeria’s legislative engagement in the economic governance architecture within the continent has been constructive and productive with an unyielding quest for sustainable development, as well as enhancing Nigeria’s access to common framework for trade.

For far too long, Nigeria’s past engagements at the continental arena have been characterized by an experience and history of uncoordinated economic governance and a convergence of fragmented economic frameworks that continues to relegate Nigeria to the background on issues with far reaching implications on the continent.

Consequently, Nigeria is made to absorb the decisions made by other African nations which sometimes leave Nigeria vulnerable to global economic volatilities. However, there is a new paradigm with Nigeria’s integration into the continental economic governance as manifested with Nigeria’s ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in December 2020.

The extraordinary leadership of Rt. Hon Tajudeen Abbas has been manifested more profoundly in Nigeria’s effort towards the domestication of the landmark African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which is the central instrument that operationalized the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 strategic framework for inclusive growth and sustainable development in Africa. This Agenda 2063 embodied a set of institutional ideas to tackle Africa’s essential challenges related to integration, prosperity and good governance.

AfCFTA was adopted with an indicative date of 2017 but became fully operational in 2021 one year after it was ratified by Nigeria in 2020 with objectives fundamentally premised on facilitating the movement of persons, creating a single market for goods and services, and promoting industrial development and sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth.

The principles embodied in AfCFTA are also encapsulated in the economic objectives established by Speaker Abbas when he took over the leadership of Nigeria’s House of Representatives and has shaped his legislative agenda around the quest to promote a more prosperous future for the citizens of Nigeria through robust economic recovery, strengthening regional geo-political solidarity and building a sense of collective self-reliance among the citizens of this great nation Nigeria.

In embarking on these agenda, Speaker Abbas recognizes that AfCFTA embodies tremendous opportunities for growth and sustainable development on the continent with an inherent potential to create a continental free-trade zone with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD$3.4 trillion. Considering that it emphasizes the reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and the facilitation of free movement of people and labor, right of residence, right of establishment, and investment, Speaker Abbas seeks to explore the inherent potentials of AfCFTA in its ability to unite all 55 member states of the African Union under a common market with a population of over 1.2 billion people. Undeniably, with a booming middle class and the prospects of eliminating import duties and reduction in non-tariff barriers, AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent and transform it as the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

Despite the tremendous benefits inherent in AfCFTA, experts have noted that it is fraught with critical challenges and potential impediments notably with the disparities that exist in the level of institutional competencies within member states of the African Union to implement the foundational principles of the agreement. It is in recognition of these challenges coupled with the high level of dilapidated essential infrastructural framework, and weak fiscal and monetary policy that have motivated Speaker Abbas robust engagement towards the full implementation of this trade agreement and in enhancing Nigeria’s trading with other African Countries.

Speaker Abbas has ensured an effective mitigation framework for the challenges identified by the economic experts and taken steps to institutionalize relevant capacity within the House of Representatives to establish legal and legislative framework in areas of trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.

It is irrefutable that while these legislative interventions have traditionally been embraced by the House of Representatives, the requisite institutional capacity must be complemented with substantive leadership to articulate tangible and concrete parliamentary framework for the actualization of the objectives of AfCFTA such as has been remarkably orchestrated by Speaker Abbas. As a transformational leader, Speaker Abbas has demonstrated experiential capacity in articulating formidable legislative direction and framework to mitigate the challenges that could impede the actualization of AfCFTA benefits for the citizens of this great nation Nigeria.

Speaker Abbas as an institutional change, performance improvement and leadership development expert has demonstrated superb intellect to sustain the complexity of the implementation of this agreement by motivating an effective and much needed institutional reform to advance the implementation of this agreement and promote the Nigeria’s values and development.

We are at a defining moment in the history and development of AfCFTA where strong leadership and robust institutional framework such as has been established by Speaker Abbas are crucial for the actualization and implementation of the protocols to the agreement establishing the AfCFTA. The key protocols to the agreement are the Protocol on Trade in Goods, the Protocol on Trade in Services, the Protocol on Rules and Procedure on the settlement of disputes, the Protocol on Investment, the Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights and the Protocol on Competition Policy. Speaker Abbas recognizes the need and has taken steps to develop national strategies to guide the implementation of the Protocols of AfCFTA and to also ensure that the principles of these implementing Protocols are efficiently integrated into our national development strategies and priorities.

Through the relevant committees, the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Abbas has effectively established a platform to articulate coherent guidelines for implementation of the five operational instruments that will govern AfCFTA and for generating legislative underpinnings to mitigate trading barriers and to ensure that the principles of these operational strategies are reflected in our national budget priorities.

It is pertinent to note that AfCFTA is at the intersection of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s most ambitious plans to rekindle Nigeria’s economic fundamentals through the Renewed Hope Agenda. The success of this synergy between our national economic policy and AfCFTA has been facilitated by the right leadership at the House of Representatives provided by Speaker Abbas who has demonstrated tangible experience in trade policy development and formulation to guide the House of Representative in making inputs on the modalities of implementation and domestication of the trade agreement.

Also, the AfCFTA framework envisions an agreement that will continue to evolve over time as more negotiations are planned. Speaker Abbas has put in place measures that ensure our institutional readiness to embrace evolving implementing protocols of this agreement and to further ensure that the House of Representatives under his leadership is substantially equipped with a functional legal, regulatory and legislative framework to guide and articulate a coherent strategy for trade policy harmonization and implementation and to promote Nigeria’s trade policies and boost trading with African Nations.

Undeniably, the House of Representatives of Nigeria under the leadership of Speaker Abbas remains an indispensable institutional platform for the actualization of the inherently huge economic potentials embodied in the AfCFTA as it represents a strong national coordinating framework to facilitate intra-Africa trade with potential great impact of the economic programmes at the national level. By virtue of the House of Representatives constitutional role in budgetary allocations, Speaker Abbas will ensure that the AfCFTA economic principles and implementing protocols are reflected at Nigeria’s national budget priorities and the inherent economic gains of a multilateral engagement through robust intra-Africa trade will not be elusive to Nigeria.

Agbese is Deputy Spokesperson, 10th House of Representatives and member of the Nigerian delegation to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP).