National Association of Nigerian Traders commends the EU Council

The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) has commended the European Union (EU) Council’s promise to provide financial support for West Africa’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), development support program (EPADP) by making available 6.5billion Euro over the next five years.

The Head, Legal Department, of the Traders Association, Aniekan Ukpe Esq. who stated this in a pres release from its Abuja, the nation’s capital office on May 17, 2010, said the fund will be drawn from the existing European Development Fund (EDF) and Community budget.

The Benefits of European Union Program to West Africa

He noted that the program is aimed at improving and strengthening regional and national trade-linked infrastructure and will also help cushion the expected huge EPA adjustment shock on West Africa. “The articulation of the EPADP was indeed a rigorous and detailed analytical process that tasked experts, governments and civil society groups in the region.”

“NANTS wishes to commend the EU Council over this reasonable approach and declaration. To us, the declaration is a sound judgment of the rationale and justification for the claims of the reality of adjustment costs. More so, this is a direct acceptance of and support for West Africa’s clamor that development ought to be at the core of the trade relationship between her and Europe or even other trading partners,” Ukpe stated.

He observed that the decision is an indication of EU’s preparedness to commit herself to the Aid for Trade strategy as a tool for poverty reduction, while also going further to show the significance of bilateral relationship that considers the status and capacity of the other side to compete within the framework of reciprocity.

Cote d’Ivoire’s 2009 EPA Agreement

Ukpe stated that the robust decision falls far short of what is deemed by all as the legitimate expectations of the West African region recalling that since November 2009, at a negotiators meeting in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire when the EU had first given a hint on acceptance to help secure financing for the EPADP, with a promise to release the details of its commitment subsequently, West Africa has patiently waited to have the EU meet its request of an initial Euro 9.5billion for the first five years.

He stated: “The huge disappointment the EU position entails for the West African region is not simply borne out of the short-fall in the figures but more importantly that the EU seeks to largely draw the funds from an already earmarked EDF which lies to the benefit of not just West Africa, but the entire African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) countries in given proportions.”

According to him the clear manifestation is that the EU is not committing any dedicated funds to the EPADP, a position it has always maintained. “Questions that could possibly arise in the present scenario are; how exactly does the EU intend to push funds from the EDF into the EPADP? Is it by part re-allocation or source funding? Does this calculation signify and announce the closure or demise of the EDF as far as West Africa is concerned? Is this an indication that the rumor about recycling of funds is evident?”

Ukpe said that NANTS believes that the stated resort to Community budget as a complementary source of financing for the EPADP is to put it mildly, simply a recycling of funds and that just like the problem with financing from the EDF, it offers nothing new, and that NANTS earlier fear and concern on the EPA are becoming more and more justified.

The Many Questions on EPA

He stated: “Perhaps, one other question that is yet to be answered is while the EU is insisting that EPADP would include other development partners’ commitment to development of the sub-region, what in the EPA is it that concerns or even links these development partners such as World Bank? Is West Africa negotiating the EPA with the Development Partners or strictly with the EU?”

It’s to be noted that NANTS has been in existence since 1997, under the Military regime, but was legally registered as a ‘National’ organization in 2001 with the entrance of civilian administration in Nigeria. It’s a membership organization which hitherto had individual members, but eventually evolved into unit membership for easy administrative purposes. At present, NANTS has about 152 market and producers associations as units under the umbrella consisting of over 14,000 individuals.