Nigeria misses out of free trade agreement
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source63 nigeria was obviously absent on wednesday when african leaders signed the largest free trade agreement since the creation of the world trade organisation wto1 a statement signed by the spokesperson ministry of foreign affairs dr tope adeleye elias-fatile said the president cancelled his trip to kigali rwanda to allow more inputs from nigerian stakeholders1 the trade agreement deal created a continental market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of more than 3.4 trillion dollars1 a major goal in the agreement is to boost intra-african trade and rely less on the volatility ofthat affect many exports1 the aim is to have agreement signed by 44 of the african unions 55 member states enter into force by the end of this year said the chair of the au commission moussa faki mahamat1 president muhammadu buhari had on sunday cancelled his trip to rwanda due to pressure by labour union not to participate in signing the agreement1 our peoples our business community and our youth in particular cannot wait any longer to see the lifting of the barriers that divide our continent hinder its economic takeoff and perpetuate misery even though africa is abundantly endowed with wealth mahamat said1 he urged strong follow-up to confound those who outside africa continue to think with barely concealed condescension that our decisions will never materialize1 and while africas largest economies are expected to benefit most from the deal some of them worry that more people from poorer countries will migrate their way1 but some of the continents strongest and fastest-growing economies including ghana and signed the deal1 the major concerns remained that the president of one of africas largest economies skipped the summit1 he added that states must ratify the deal1