Strengthening Nigeria’s Production Base for Effective Participation in African Continental Free Trade Area
Main Article Content
Abstract
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was launched on July 7, 2019 to provide African countries a platform for greater economic cooperation and interdependence. Nigeria is a member of AfCFTA. One objective of AfCFTA, among others, is to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise levels through exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better allocation of resources. This paper sought to examine the performance of the Nigerian economy in the recent past with a view to assessing if its production base is strong enough to enable it participate effectively in AfCFTA and tap the benefits. The paper adopted the historical – materialist method, which examines the role of economic factors in shaping the society. From our assessment of the domestic production base of the Nigerian economy, it is apparent that it is weak, characterized by inadequate supply of public electricity, low level of technological capability, and resultant weak industrial sector. Therefore, to strengthen Nigeria’s domestic production base for effective participation in AfCFTA, the supply of adequate public electricity (from thermal power, hydropower, and other power sources – wind, solar, biomass) should be among the crucial developmental structures the government should seek to achieve. Improvement in technological capability should be a national question which can be achieved, among other means, through increase in expenditure on research and development (R&D), and increase in the number of researchers and technicians in R&D. Also, ailing iron and steel organizations in Nigeria should be revived, and chemical plants should be provided to give the industrial sector the needed leap.
Downloads
Article Details
References
Akkemil, K. A. (2009), Industrial Development in East Asia, Series on Economic Development and Growth, Vol. 3, World scientific publishing company. Pte. Ltd, Singapore.
Akpakpan, E. B (1999), The Economy: Towards a New Type of Economics, Delpot Publishers,
Busch, M. L. and Miliner, H. V. (1994), The Future of the International Trading Systems: International Firms, Regionalism, and Domestic Politics, in: Richard S. and Underhill G. R. D, eds., Political Economy and the Changing Global Order, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, p. 240.
Cameron, D. (1993), “Introduction”, in; Cameron, D and Mel W., eds. Canada under Free Trade Toronto, Lorimer, p. 21.
Central Bank of Nigeria CBN) Annual Report, Abuja, 2014, December.
Central Bank of Nigeria CBN) Annual Report, Abuja, 2018, December.
Central Bank of Nigeria CBN), Annual Report, Abuja, 2011, December.
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, (2014), Statistical Bulletin, Vol. 25, December.
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, (2018), Statistical Bulletin, Vol. 29, December.
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Economic Report for Fourth Quarter, 2017.
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Economic report for fourth quarter, 2016
Cofelice, A. (2018), African Continental Free Trade Area: Opportunities and Challenges, The Federalist Debate, 31(3); 32 – 35.
Cohn, T. H. (2012), Global Political Econ0my (sixth edition), Pearson, New York
Egwaikhide, F. O., Ekpo, A.H., Oyeranti, O, A and Ayodele, O, S. 2004. Four Decades of Industrialization in Nigeria, University of Ibadan.
Ekpo, A. H. (2017), “The Nigerian Economy: Current Economic Recession and Beyond”, 33rd Convocation Lecture, Bayero University, Kano, March.
Ekpo, A. H. 2004. “Industrialization and Nigeria’s Economic Development”, in: Challenges of Nigerian Industrialization: A Pathway to Nigeria Becoming a Highly Industrialized Country in the Year 2015. Nigerian Economic Society (NES), Ibadan: Multi Media Publishers Ltd., 3 - 26.
Essien, E. B. (2004). “Developing and Sustaining Indigenous Technology for Sustainable Industrialization in Nigeria”, in Challenges of Nigerian Industrialization: A Pathway to Nigeria Becoming a Highly Industrialized Country in the Year 2015. Nigerian Economic Society (NES), Ibadan: Multi Media Publishers Ltd., 463-490.
Essien, E. B. (2015) “Supporting Research and Development (R&D) for Realization of Post2015 Development Agenda in Nigeria”, in Scholars Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 2, Issue 1B, 128 - 138
Essien, E. B. and Dickson, M. (2014) “Economic Integration among the Less Developed Countries: Myth and the New International Realities”, in Developing Country Studies, Vol.4, No. 12, 18 – 26.
Hanke Misery Index, 2019.
Hart, M. (1990), A North American Free Trade Agreement: The Strategic Implications for Canada (Halifax, NS: Institute for Research on Public Policy), pp. 45 – 46
Hoekman, B. M. and Kostecki, M. M. (2001), The Political Economy of the World Trading System: The WTO and Beyond (2nd Ed.), New York: Oxford University Press.
Ingram, J. G. (1983), International Economics (2nd Ed.), USA: John Willy and Sons
Jhingan, M. L. (2002), The Economics of Development and Planning (35th Edition), Vrinda Publications (P), Ltd.
Morton, A. D. (2011), Revolution and the State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development, Plymouth: Rowan & Littlefield.
National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, (2005), Abstract of Statistics, Abuja.
National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, (2014), The Review of Definition and Methodology for Computing Unemployment Statistics in Nigeria. Report of National Stakeholders’ Workshop held at Ayalla Hotel, Abuja, 8th – 10th September.
National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Labour Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report, 2018, Vol. 1. Port Harcourt.
Todaro, M. P. and Smith, S. C. (2011). Economic Development, 11th Edition, Pearson Education Pte Ltd., Delhi.
United Nation Development Program (UNDP) 2013. Human Development Report, New York: Oxford University Press.
World Bank (2011), World Development Indicators, Washington D.C.
World Bank (2019), World Development Indicators, Washington, D.C.
Yew, L. K. (2011), From Third World to the First – Singapore and East Asian Economic Boom, HarperCollins Publishers, NY.