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FG may lose $1.3tn to EU over Trade Accord

By BusinessNews Staff on April 27, 2014

Trade and development experts Thursday expressed fears that Nigeria may lose over $1.3 trillion if government eventually ratifies the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a trade accord framework with the European Union countries (EU), which it signed four months ago in Dakar, Senegal.

The stakeholders were also apprehensive of the likely lose of investments and jobs that may arise from ratifying the agreement by the West African regional economic block, under the aegis of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

They were of the consensus that the agreement did not address the issue of re-imbursement of the fiscal lose put at $1.3 trillion for Nigeria and over 50 per cent of some developing countries’ budget that rely on custom duties.

Speaking at an Enhanced National Focal Point meeting (ENFP), organised by the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTs), in Abuja, the Vice Chairman, National Focal Point Committee, Prof. Ademola Oyejide and the President, NANTs, Mr. Ken Ukaoha, averred that the private sector was completely opposed to signing the agreement in its current form.

The negotiation Oyejide hinted, started 12 years ago, between the EU and ECOWAS, adding that it deals essentially with trade between the two regions.

He said: “The basic idea is that the relationship will be structured in such a way that from the first day of the agreement, the EU will open its markets to goods exported from West African countries 100 per cent.

“In other words, all of the goods that West African countries will export to the EU member states will be able to enter EU member countries without being subject to import tariffs.

“In exchange, the West African countries will open their markets to products from the EU countries, but that opening will be not as full as that of the EU.”

However, the agreement, he added has not been concluded, explaining: “What we have in place now is still being discussed, because it has not being ratified suggests that West African countries will have an exclusion list which is made up of 25 per cent of their total import from the EU. Those products falling within this 25 percent exclusion list would not be liberalised.”

Oyejide said further: “In other words, ECOWAS countries will feel free to levy import duties on those goods and products. The remaining 75 percent will be subject to liberalisation.

“Those products that are subject to liberalisation are classified into three groups A, B and C. The ones that are under exclusion are in B. The agreement is for a period of 20 years and in the first five years all products listed under the categories will be liberalised and become zero rated and will be free of import duties when imported into the country.”

While expressing reservation about government signing the accord, he said: “There are ten reservations, the first is that if this agreement that was reached in January was finally implemented, Nigeria felt that it would lose fiscal revenue and secondly the agreement as it stands right now does not protect or offer enough protection from the Nigerian perspective to ensure that its industries continue to exist and therefore that will have implications for employment.”

On the October deadline set by EU, Ukaoha said, Nigeria does not need to shiver over deadlines set by the EU, as there have been several deadlines set in the past.
He said: “If you look at what happened in the 2001 Doha declaration agenda for instance, was a Doha agenda and it is still on.”

He said the EPA negotiation if eventually ratified portends negative implications for the country, adding that government officials must stand by objecting to it.

[This Day]

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