A former President, United Republic of Tanzania, Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, has warned industrialists in Nigeria and other African countries not to follow a similar path that developed nations followed but focus on areas where Africans have comparative advantage.
He explained that the Nigerian domestic market was large enough to enable the local industry achieve economies of scale. According to him, if the Economic Community of West African States’ market is added to the equation, the trade opportunities are even more lucrative to attract both domestic and Foreign Direct Investments, which are critical to long-term, balanced development.
He said, “Intra-regional and intra-Africa trade should be the way to go before we as Africans can venture head on into the global trade. I have come to realise the imperative of the private sector and all levels of the government (Federal, State and Local) to work in concert to continuously improve the business climate. In this endeavor, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria should take the lead advocacy role in pushing for business climate improvement reforms to make them competitive for the domestic and export markets.
“The government needs to deal with issues of bureaucracy and red tape, endemic corruption, reform of business registration procedures. While our aspiration to pursue development through trade without aid is as ideal as ambitious to any responsible government, the present global paradigm is unfavourably structured for Africa and whether by design or by default, it serves to ensure that we don’t achieve those aspirations and we remain perpetually dependent.”
The President, MAN, Mr. Frank Jacobs, had emphasised that the proposed admission of Morocco into ECOWAS was equivalent to signing the Economic Partnership Agreement by the European Union through the back
door.
“Government should oppose the move as it would spell doom to the productive sector of the economy. Effective trade policies would encourage local manufacturing companies to build better products to compete, not only in the regional but also international markets,”
he said.
