By Muhammad Mustapha
The meeting between Prof. Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, providing advisory/technical services and the National Coordinator of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office and his team, identified immediate priorities for implementation in Nigeria, including amongst others, domestication of AfCFTA Agreement and capacity building of relevant stakeholders on the domestic implementation of AfCFTA Agreement in Nigeria.
After the meeting, Prof. Ladan donated 4 copies of his 17 chapter book entitled: Understanding the Legal and Implementation Framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) – Case Study of Nigeria.
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the book discuss “Understanding the Scope of African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: – State Obligations and Domestic Implementation in Nigeria”, “The Legal Basis of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) and The Operational Phase for Effective Implementation of the AfCFTA” and “State Sovereignty and Some Implications of State v State Dispute Settlement in AfCFTA Law”, respectively.
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 analyzed, “Overview of the Rationale, Structure and Contents of African Union and ECOWAS Treaty/Agreement/Protocol/Policies on Regional Integration, Trade and Investments”, “Review of the Protocol on Investments to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area” and “Review of the Protocol on Competition Policy to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area”, respectively.
Chapters 7, 8, and 9 looked at, “Review of the Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area”, “Overview of the Protocol to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on Digital Trade Compared with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023”, and “Brief Overview of the Protocol to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area on Women and Youth in Trade Compared with the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the National Gender Policy of Nigeria 2021/2026”, respectively.
Chapters 10, 11, and 12 x-rayed, “Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No. 5, 2022: Review and Tabular Compatibility with the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area”, “Brief Review of the Copyright Act, 2023”, and “Review of Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023”, respectively.
Chapters 13, 14, and 15 analyzed “Brief Review of the Nigeria AfCFTA Implementation Strategy”, “Brief Overview of the Trade Policy of Nigeria (2023-2027)”, and “Inventory of Laws, Policies and Regulations”, respectively.
Chapters 16 and 17 looked at, “National Practice on Domestication of Treaties in Nigeria (1960-2023)” and “Annexes 1-9 on AfCFTA Agreement and its 8 Protocols”, respectively.
