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The European Union (EU) says Nigerian products will not be banned from entering Europe if the country does not sign and ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
“The EU will take no measure limiting or affecting imports of Nigerian goods to Europe if Nigeria decides not to sign the EPA,” said Michel Arrion, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, in an e-mailed statement sent to BusinessDay.
The EU is reacting to a recent report disclosing the plan of the union to place a ban on Nigeria’s agricultural exports in 2017, should the country fail to join 13 other West African countries to ratify the EPA.
According to Arrion, the EPA has been negotiated in a way that reduces any risk of possible negative impact for West Africa.
The EPA is a free trade agreement between the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Europe, seeking to enable West African countries access the European market and vice versa, without paying tariffs. According to the EPA, West Africa will still maintain high import duties on most finished and consumer goods imported from Europe.
“The main objective of the EPA is to support, not to undermine, the economic development and industrialisation of West Africa. To make sure that such objective can be effectively achieved, the EPA gives more obligations to the EU than to West Africa, and more rights in favour of West Africa than the EU,” the EU ambassador said.
To prove his point, Arrion said while the EPA requires the EU to completely remove tariffs and quotas on imports of any good from West Africa, West Africa is allowed to keep tariffs up to 35 percent on several goods imported from Europe, particularly on goods belonging to the so-called sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, food and beverages.
He said the timing of the market opening provided by the EPA is also in favour of West Africa, in that while the EPA requires the EU to immediately remove duties on all imports from West Africa, West Africa’s market opening will be gradual and slow, starting after five years of its entry into force (a transitional period which applies only in favour of West Africa) and gradually taking place for additional 15 years (overall a period of 20 years).
Again, the EPA improves the so-called ‘rules of origin’ only for West Africa, making it easier to consider goods sourced and transformed in various countries of the region as West African goods benefitting from free access to the EU market, he said, adding that more businesses will be willing to invest in West Africa moved by the perspective to have easier access to a huge and lucrative market like Europe.
“The EPA provides an ‘infant industry clause’, which only West Africa (not the EU) can trigger to raise custom duties in case of imports from the EU threatening local fledging industries. The EPA also provides the possibility to review the agreement every five years, allowing Nigeria to address any concern possibly arising during its application, and correct any possible negative impact,” he stated.
“A first question is why Nigeria should sign the EPA if it is currently unable to export any product other than oil. My answer is simple. Everybody knows that Nigeria needs to diversify its exports. However, diversifying exports does not take place overnight. It requires the adoption and implementation of several coordinated policies, aiming at increasing Nigeria’s capacity to satisfy both local and foreign demand,” he stated.
He said for geographic and historic reasons, the EU is the main destination of Nigerian non-oil export, stressing that a removal of all EU import duties on goods originating in Nigeria would immediately offer to Nigeria the opportunity to increase its existing share of non-oil exports to the EU (such as cocoa, leather, fish and crustaceans, oil seeds, rubber etc.) and an opportunity to explore a market of more than 500 million potential consumers.
ODINAKA ANUDU
