VIDEO: Emir Sanusi counters Buhari, votes for African Free Trade Agreement

VIDEO: Emir Sanusi counters Buhari, votes for African Free Trade Agreement

Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that signing the Free Trade Agreement among African countries to fast-track revival of the Trans-Saharan trade routes and build infrastructure to connect the Sahel is critical to African prosperity.

Sanusi made the remarks today in his keynote address to the African Development Bank (AfDB) meeting in South Korea, emphasizing that Africa as a continent needs to look inwards and stop looking out for prosperity from the outside world.

Sanusi made the remarks today in his keynote address to the African Development Bank (AfDB) meeting in South Korea,

44 African countries have signed the Free Trade Agreement in a recent African Union meeting in Kigali. Nigeria is one of the 10 AU’s 55-member states that refused to sign the agreement.

Commenting on Twitter, Nigeria’s President Buhari said: “We will not agree to anything that will undermine local manufacturers and entrepreneurs, or that may lead to Nigeria becoming a dumping ground for finished goods”.

But Sanusi was critical of Buhari’s stance on the free trade agreement, saying: “It’s time for the North African to look South and time for the South to look North in order to develop. Let’s build the infrastructure connecting the Sahel, let’s revive the Trans-Saharan trade routes and stop looking out to the outside world for growth”, he said.

The idea of a continent-wide trade agreement has been work in progress for decades, but has accelerated in the past few years by African leaders committed to Pan-African integration.

Albert M. Muchanga, AU commissioner for Trade and Industry, remained optimistic about the Agreement: “The other countries will come on board. We’re very very certain about that.”

“The Labor movement, civil society, parliamentarians. They need to reach out to everybody,” Muchanga told CNN recently.

“We started with the regional economic communities in the 70s and they were designated as the building blocks to the African economic community. Then in 1991 we had the Abuja Treaty in terms of the African economic community, with the indicative timeline of 34 years,” Muchanga said..

“Then in 2012, we decided to fast track the process and that’s when it was it was decided that we should create the African Continental Free Trade Area,” Muchanga added.