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The Nigerian Cabotage Act and the Ideals of the African Continental Free Trade Area: An Unwholesome Alliance?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2023
Abstract
One of the primary goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is to establish a single market for goods and services in order to achieve economic integration in Africa. Experts opine that the AfCFTA can be a game changer for improving intra-African trade and may pave the way to economic diversification and inclusion. To maximize the potential of the AfCFTA, African nations must eliminate or minimize trade and non-trade barriers that can undermine the AfCFTA's true intention. Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa; therefore for the AfCFTA to flourish, Nigeria must implement targeted industrial, structural and policy changes to facilitate the achievement of the AfCFTA's objectives. This article addresses protectionist cabotage as a non-tariff trade hurdle to AfCFTA aims, as well as the need for Nigeria to abolish or liberalize its restrictive regime on domestic cabotage trade. It proposes that Nigeria should take the lead in campaigning for a regional cabotage regime and eliminate its protectionist policy.
- Type
- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London
Footnotes
*
PhD (World Maritime University, Sweden); Member, Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, UK; Partner and Chair of the Shipping and Transport Practice Group at Damilola Osinuga LP. I must thank Mr Temitope Oyeyemi for the meaningful conversations that led to the birth of this article.
References
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66 Domesticating the AfCFTA has sparked discussion in Nigeria. The argument relates to Nigerian jurisprudence drawn from sec 12 of the Constitution, which requires international treaties to be incorporated into law to have legal force in Nigeria. The reasoning fails to distinguish between trade agreements and international conventions. It is essential to review the global models on international trade agreement domestication, compliance and implementation. The closest models to the AfCFTA are the WTO agreements – the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). These help identify WTO member nations that have incorporated the WTO agreements into their municipal laws, giving the GATT and GATS legal authority and enforceability in their courts. No major trading nation has domesticated the complete WTO accords, including the goods and services trade agreements. Trade agreements differ from international conventions, where compliance is the same for every contracting state save in circumstances of allowed reservations. The AfCFTA Agreement, like WTO agreements, permits state parties to deviate from trade commitments through the mechanism of most-favoured-nation exemptions, limitations to market access and national treatment, etc, and has its negotiated and agreed mechanism for dealing with violations by state parties. A trade agreement will usually specify the criteria for becoming a state party; art 23 of the AfCFTA Agreement requires “signature and ratification or accession by Member States … in accordance with their national laws”. AfCFTA members must take a second step after signing to become parties; art 23 lists two steps: signature plus ratification or signature plus accession. Member states must lodge ratification or accession instruments with the African Union Commission (AUC). Nigeria signed the agreement on 7 July 2019 and its Instrument of Ratification was deposited with the AUC on 5 December 2020.
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