Nigeria’s main manufacturing body said it will oppose plans for an African free trade area until the government has done more studies on its impact.
“When they open our borders for all manner of products to come into this country, most of our industries will be out of business,” Frank Jacobs, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, told reporters in Lagos, the commercial capital, on Tuesday. “We will continue to oppose it until the right thing is done.”
While Kenya and Ghana have ratified the deal, Africa’s two biggest economies—Nigeria and South Africa—have not. Some critics accused Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari of bowing to pressure from labor unions concerned that more free trade would hurt local industries and cause job losses.