{"id":6201,"date":"2019-10-29T09:05:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T06:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=6201"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:38","slug":"nigerias-border-closure-has-implications-for-africas-economic-integration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/10\/29\/nigerias-border-closure-has-implications-for-africas-economic-integration\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Border Closure Has Implications For Africa\u2019s Economic Integration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nigeria\nrecently partially closed its border with Benin in an effort to stem the\nsmuggling of rice. It then&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/nigeria-trade\/update-1-nigerias-land-borders-closed-to-all-goods-customs-chief-idUSL5N2706CO\">went\non to close its land borders<\/a>&nbsp;to the movement of all goods from Benin,\nNiger and Cameroon, effectively banning trade flows with its neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africanews.com\/2019\/10\/18\/why-african-nations-close-borders-nigeria-sudan-rwanda-kenya-eritrea\/\">Border\nclosures are not new in Africa<\/a>. But Nigeria\u2019s actions raise important\nconcerns about the seriousness and prospects of regional integration in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nigeria\nacted just three months after it had signed the African Continental Free Trade\nAgreement. With 55 member countries, a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion and a\ntotal population of 1.2 billion, the agreement will create the world\u2019s largest\nfree trade area. Its aim is to promote intra-Africa trade, which is abysmally\nlow at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afdb.org\/fr\/news-and-events\/intra-african-trade-is-key-to-sustainable-development-african-economic-outlook-17022\">16%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To\nrestrict trade flows so shortly after this momentous feat is a major blow to\nintegration efforts. It also shows how unprepared African countries might be\nfor free trade. It\u2019s hard to see how the free trade deal can increase\nintra-Africa trade to 60% by 2022, as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/au.int\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/36085-doc-qa_cfta_en_rev15march.pdf\">projected<\/a>&nbsp;,\nwhen it is being undermined from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These\nearly trade tensions between Nigeria and its neighbours are hardly surprising.\nThey underlie some of the fundamental problems that must be addressed before\ncordial free trade can succeed on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nthe case of Nigeria, Africa&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tralac.org\/resources\/our-resources\/13595-nigeria-intra-africa-trade-and-tariff-profile.html\">accounts<\/a>&nbsp;for\nonly 13% of its exports and 4% of its imports. These statistics probably\nunderestimate the true volume of trade between Nigeria and its neighbours. But\nthey show that Africa is a dispensable market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/nigerias-border-closure-has-implications-for-africas-economic-integration-125592\">Read\nmore\u2026<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong Nigeria recently partially closed its border with Benin in an effort to stem the smuggling of rice. It then&nbsp;went on to close its land borders&nbsp;to the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}