mistakes of the past, laying a shaky
foundation for future generations. The
onus is on this generation of Nigerians to
do the hard work and create the
foundations of a future economy that will
not use ―inadequate infrastructure and
capacity‖ arguments as a reason to shy
away from economic agreements with the
rest of the world.
Conclusion
Whether or not Nigeria signs the
AfCFTA, we have a major deficit in our
entire international trading infrastructure,
from ports (seaports, river ports, dry
ports and airports), roads, sound policy
frameworks, friendly regulatory
environment and forward-looking
educational curricula among other things.
The irony is that our refusal to sign the
AfCFTA is as well an indictment of
political leadership in Nigeria, as it is as
indictment on the entire public sector, the
organized private sector and the academic
sector in this country, in equal measures.
So no sector can really lay all the blame
on the other.
The need to reduce our import bill and
improve our export earnings cannot be
over-emphasized. The path to doing that
will not be achieved overnight. Choosing
the easy path of not signing the AfCFTA is
giving in to our worst fears as a nation,
telling the whole world that we are not
ready to take up a challenge, to do what is
necessary, to take hard decisions and do
right by future generations.