BUY AFRICA - Ayo Ogunjobi

Beloved, the obstacles to the economic development of the African continent include importation of foreign goods from Overseas and the outflow of vibrant and young human capital. We Africans open ourselves to exploitation by buying finished products manufactured from raw materials exported from our continent to foreign climes.

These raw materials which are purchased at relatively low prices from us are sold back to us as finished products at exhorbitant prices. Our Crave for luxury items has exposed us to being exploited by our former colonial masters, who take advantage of our lack of infrastructures, for the manufacture of goods that will compete with what they sell to us. Our young and vibrant human capital is also depleted by the migration of our virile and educated youths to foreign climes due to hostile domestic economic environment.

Africans need to focus on markets on our continent to generate intra-African trade so that the wealth of the continent does not flow out to benefit foreigners at our expense. This is the reason why the concept of African Continental free Trade Area must be embraced.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) was created among 54 of the 55 African Union Nations. The Free Trade Area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. The Secretariat is Accra Ghana which was commissioned and handed over to the African Union by the president of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo on August 17 2020.

What does AfCTA Cover?

The AfCTA Agreement is a framework agreement covering Trade in Goods and Services, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights and competition Policy. It is a Free Trade Area founded in 2018 with Trade commencing on 1st January, 2021.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the agreement will boost intra African trade by 52% by 2022. The AfCTA has the potential to increase employment opportunities and incomes, helping to expand opportunities to all Africans. The AfCTA is expected to lift around 68million people out of moderate poverty and make African countries more competitive.

African countries opened their markets on 1st January 2021 under the continental free trade agreement and duty free trading of goods and services across borders is now underway despite the Covid-19 Pandemic and other teething problems. The pact will also empower women by improving their access to trade opportunities. Only Eritrea remains the only African Country yet to sign the agreement.

Disadvantages of the Free Trade Area Include:

• Threat to intellectual property.

• Unhealthy working conditions

• Less tax revenue

• Massive Job Losses as when trade barriers are eliminated certain goods may be cheaper to obtain overseas than to make domestically, because of that, job losses are likely as less competitive industries wither away.

Advantages of Free Trade:

• Lower prices for consumers, increased export benefits from economies of scale and greater choice of goods.

• Higher efficiency and optimum utilization of resources

• Benefits to consumers

• Higher earnings of the factors of production

• International Specialization

• Increase in world production and world consumption

• Safeguard against monopolies

The Commissioning of AfCTA is a step in the right direction as it will strengthen the bond of Unity amongst African countries and will assist in fulfilling the dream of a United African State. It will also help to free the continent from being a dumping ground for foreign goods and rescue Africa from the stranglehold of foreign economic domination. Africans should also endeavour to patronize goods that are made in Africa.

Harambe.

Shalom

God Bless Africa

God Bless Humanity

Kindly Visit: https://ayoogunjobi.blogspot.com

Very Truly Yours

Solomoñ Ayodeji Ogunjobi (Déjà vu) a,k,a, ORUNMILA messanger to OLODUMARE

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