AGENCY NOT PREPARED.

Osita Aboloma, DG, SON

The Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON, is one regulatory agency that should be relieved and happy that the July date of the take-off  of the  African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has been truncated by the Covid19 pandemic as it grapples with the overwhelming array of fake/substandard products in Nigerian markets.

How SON has fared in its regulatory role is a story for another day.

AfCFTA,  a historic deal indended to smash down tariff barriers within Africa is being stalled by the coronavirus pandemic and a host of negotiating issues.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was formally launched just over a year ago in a blaze of optimism.

The accord—styled as the biggest free-trade accord in the world in terms of population—gathers 54 out of 55 African countries, with Eritrea the only holdout.

AfCFTA aims to phase out all tariffs on commerce on the continent of 1.2 billion people, a goal that backers say could give trade a mega-jolt as only 15 percent of trade by African nations is with continental neighbours compared to 70 percent with Europe.

It was supposed to take operational effect on Wednesday, July 1, but the timeline has slipped, under the complications caused by the Covid-19 outbreak but also the slow pace of negotiations themselves.

“Everybody can see, objectively, nothing can be done on the 1st of July,” AfCFTA’s brand-new secretary general, Wamkele Mene of South Africa, said.