₦airaland Forum

OlujobaSamuel:
SA rules affect companies operating in SA, it has no effect the rules of other nations. Also the free trade isn't just about SA and NG, so I don't know why you limit it to those two nations.

Kindly note South Africa is going to run the free trade deal. currently south africa is running SADC countries. south africa's plan is to run subsahara africa in future.

onatisi:
many

many, denel in south africa is producing aircraft, bombela is producing bullet trains,

onatisi:
This is probably the only good thing buhari has done so far. Even Donald Trump is reversing and canceling many trade treaties which the USA has been party of and which has affected the local industry in USA ,eg aluminum . If care isn't taken , even many Nigerian enterprenuers will find it cheaper taking their capital to other countries and setting up their companies and factories there and only exporting to Nigeria if this treaty was signed .
With the epileptic power supply and infrastructural decay in Nigeria,it will be a national suicide for Nigeria to be part of any free trade treaty for now at least until we fix our infrastructure

do not look at it in one angle, maybe south african companies will set up factories in nigeria and hire more nigerians. because nigerians labour is cheap, maybe it will be easy for nigerains to get work at south africa.

grandstar:
I agree totally with you. Nigeria must continue following regressive policies that has kept her languishing in third world poverty. Why must Nigeria sign a free trade agreement that will bring about creative destruction and force it's companies to be competitive and focus on where it has comparative advantage? Why,why, why?

What has crude oil or our commodities ever done for the country sef?

Nigeria companies need competition in order for them to be world class competitive. you are not even gaining anything from this companies that you are protecting.

zhike:
Thanks for the response. I really agree Nigerians are one of the smartest people on earth. they are professors in most South African universities. countries will have diff tribes and tribes will never have same status. some tribes will be richer than other tribes. is the internal of each and every country, even South africa has internal problem such tribe issue, lot of foreigners. internal issue are not supposed to stop nigeria to progress. internal issue will alws be there. that is why nigeria should join this deal, it will be easy for SA companies to come and assist nigeria with security issues, enerygy issues and processing oils.

If you are poor you must work towards been well.

You realise I was being sarcastic. Of course I support the free trade deal. I was mocking the average Nigerian's mentality

zhike:
Nigeria companies need competition in order for them to be world class competitive. you are not even gaining anything from this companies that you are protecting.

He was being sarcastic too

zhike:
Nigeria companies need competition in order for them to be world class competitive. you are not even gaining anything from this companies that you are protecting.

I was being sarcastic

nigeria is just a market for most of these countries , there virtually no country in the world that doesnt make money out of nigeria one way or the other but very few serious industrialist will think of coming to set up production factories here due to many limitating factors . nigeria is the biggest market in africa and the largest black nation in the world and also the 8th largest oil producing nation in the world , if all things are equal , we are not supposed to be looking for investors to come here rather they are the ones who shoould be begging to come .

zhike:
do not look at it in one angle, maybe south african companies will set up factories in nigeria and hire more nigerians. because nigerians labour is cheap, maybe it will be easy for nigerains to get work at south africa.

zhike:
Kindly note South Africa is going to run the free trade deal. currently south africa is running SADC countries. south africa's plan is to run subsahara africa in future.

Including Nigeria and Ghana? Abeg no make me laff

The Op is obviously South African.

South African stand to gain a lot if Nigeria should sign the treaty. Nigerian companies will fold up or move to other countries, most likely South Africa.

rexwalters:
England wants to Brexit the EU,Nigeria doesn't need to sign that bullshit treaty,we like our chances,we stand on our own.

you are struggling by ur own, you know that.

wirinet:
I wonder why this basic fact is difficult to understand. Every country needs to produce before you can trade , you need to solve the issue of infrastructure and human capital development before you can produce.
Nigeria at present have huge market due to its population, but very little to trade with outside crude. We have absolutely little control on oil trading which is controlled by OPEC. So what is the benefit of entering a free trade agreement?

what are you benefiting now because you are outside the deal?, do not be comfortable in an uncomfortable zone.

wirinet:
How will free trade agreement bring about creative destruction and force it's companies to be competitive? Also state areas where Nigeria has comparative advantage in Africa?

When countries like the US is weary of free trade agreements, you want Nigeria with poor infrastructure, poor human capital development, high levels of corruption to enter headlong?

the problem is Nigeria is struggling now, we must try something new.

rexwalters:
England wants to Brexit the EU,Nigeria doesn't need to sign that bullshit treaty,we like our chances,we stand on our own.

what are you gaining by standing at ur own. no jobs and poverty, pls wake up.

grandstar:
Trump sadly is a protectionist and is doing damage to the American economy. Economic growth last year was 2.9% instead of the 3% + expected and the prime culprit was Trump's trade war. Nigeria should not follow that route.

The truth is free trade will force the country to sit up. There's no choice.

Also, there are areas the country has comparative advantage despite poor infrastructure. Nigerian manufactured goods are found throughout West and Central Africa. Rumour has it up to Zimbabwe. That shows things are not as despondent as they seem.

Daily, buyers from West Africa besiege the markets in Lagos Island and leave with lorry loads of goods. Same with agricultural products. They besiege the Northern states leaving with trailers loads of foodstuff.

To say the country lacks comparative advantage in some areas is therefore not entirely true.

Also,a Free Trade Agreement may encourage the setting up of industrial parks with dedicated power 24houra a day and other amenities. Companies based in these parks will therefore have a competitive edge.

Smart states or even investors can set such induatrial parks in their states. The more the better.

The biggest benefit will be that Niàgerian companies are forced to be competitive and focus on areas they have comparative advantage,. At the end if the day, it will encourage an export push outside African shores which is desperately needed. Only, when Nigeria does that, can it bring about the needed transformation from third world to first world.

Also, it will compel government to target the most expensive expense or cost which is that if credit. Credit is unnecessarily high considering fiscal deficits rarely go beyond 2% of GDP. Lending rates and inflation have always been in double digits.

The high cost of credit has scared off investments in the manufacturing sector and in the real sectors altogether. It has also led to low productivity. which makes manufacturers uncompetitive.

I can see Nigeria doing well in textile garments for instance. It can import cheap textile fabrics from other African countries and turn them into garments. These garments will not only be exported to other African countries but outside African shores as well Nigeria with it's 200m people will have an edge in labour intensive factories like these

And if the country is making headway in garments, they will be compelled to set up fabric plants in order to achieve quick turnarounds to meet targets set by their buyers based in Europe and America.

I foresee Chinese manufacturers setting up shop enmasse here and creating lots of jobs now that wages have shot through the roof in China and the easiest way for their manufacturers to remain competitive is to set up factories in low wage countries like Nigeria. Factory Asia on our doorsteps.

thanks for the good information.

omohayek:
One thing I find striking about those who make arguments for protectionism is how they fail to follow through on the full implications of their position. If erecting trade barriers between countries is good for development, then surely the same must be true within countries, at the regional, state and even city level? Shouldn't the protectionists also be pleading for onerous customs checks and high tariff barriers between all 36 of Nigeria's states?

No country ever got rich because of protectionist policies, but despite them, and that small set of countries only includes those big enough for their internal markets to be continental-scale in their own right (e.g. the USA in the late 19th century, or China today). As for the argument that Chinese companies could set up as "domestic" manufacturers in one African country an then drive competitors everywhere else in the continent out of business, what is the difference between such a "Chinese" company, and an African like Dangote raising money on the NYSE or the Shanghai stock exchange, and then bringing in Chinese managers to do the same? And why is it that advocates of protectionism never weigh the gains in consumer welfare against the jobs potentially lost to competition? Don't ordinary Africans deserve to have their meager incomes buy more and better clothes, books, cement and whatever else? This one-sided, producer-centric view of things is as unbalanced and irrational as the common Nigerian obsession with state governments paying salaries "as at when due" [sic] for masses of under-employed "workers" at the expense of roads, hospitals, schools and everything else.

Thanks for the good information

onatisi:
it is one thing to have the resources to produce and it is another thing to have the capacity to produce things ,
yes nigeria has abundant natural and human resources to produce virtually anything in this world but as at present we only have limited capacity to produce very little , this is why government need to quickily develop all necessary infrastructures to enable Nigerians have the capacity to produce exportable goods and servoces

you don't have to wait for govt, Nigeria business should do that. make product and export them. skill is a minor thing because it could be learnt.

googi:
With all respect, I can understand the fear of those that do not want Free Trade. Someone even defeat his own argument with the protectionist tendencies of USA and China.

Please understand that China was allowed into Rich Country Club to spite Russia. China is now a threat and it cannot get away with those protectionist policies again.

In the case of USA, they are just mad that they are no longer the only producers of finished and pricy goods people love to buy based on their popular culture that has nothing to do with their expensive products. They live on designer products. The other source of income are Ammunitions and nuclear threats like other Western and Asia countries like India and now Pakistan. Iran is developing home-made ammunition while Nigeria sleeps and spend fortune acquiring ready-made arms.

The problem with Nigeria protecting its border is nothing but mirage, bunk and foolishness. All African countries have unfair and Free Trade (against them) with Western and Asian countries. Actually, many of these countries even go beyond Free Trade, they create FREE TRADE ZONES within their countries for any foreign country outside Africa.

So please understand we are already a free trade ZONE. All we are saying right now is to open your country to fellow African countries the way we open it to foreign countries outside Africa.

Trading within Africa is less than 20% or so while we trade 70% with countries outside Africa. This is the main purpose this Agreement is suppose to change.

good information

ba7man:
They're all targeting the Nigerian market.

why are you saying so?

Tianamen1:
You realise I was being sarcastic. Of course I support the free trade deal. I was mocking the average Nigerian's mentality

thanks for supporting the free trade deal my frnd.

onatisi:
nigeria is just a market for most of these countries , there virtually no country in the world that doesnt make money out of nigeria one way or the other but very few serious industrialist will think of coming to set up production factories here due to many limitating factors . nigeria is the biggest market in africa and the largest black nation in the world and also the 8th largest oil producing nation in the world , if all things are equal , we are not supposed to be looking for investors to come here rather they are the ones who shoould be begging to come .

Nigerian mentality need to change, in order for nigeria to be super power. in fact why nigeria joined opec countrires?
south africa has pipes that goes to iran for oil, it wanted to change those pipes so that they can go to nigeria. but the problem is the oil price is the same.

OlujobaSamuel:
Including Nigeria and Ghana? Abeg no make me laff

Yes, west african countries they simply needs south africa to help them to walk by themselves.

Lionhearted:
The Op is obviously South African.

South African stand to gain a lot if Nigeria should sign the treaty. Nigerian companies will fold up or move to other countries, most likely South Africa.

is 50 50 boss, south africa will gain and Nigeria will gain.

zhike:
is 50 50 boss, south africa will gain and Nigeria will gain.

50:50 when we are talking of Africa's largest market? That don't cut it.

We will sign it when it is 80:20 in our favour.

Not something like BELIEVING Nigeria will benefit but that Nigeria will DEFINITELY benefit. And with the present state of infrastructural development in Nigeria...

zhike:
Yes, west african countries they simply needs south africa to help them to walk by themselves.

So South Africa is now Africa's big brother?

Continue on your ego trip. Nigeria is not joining the trade deal, at least for now.

Lionhearted:
50:50 when we are talking of Africa's largest market? That don't cut it.

We will sign it when it is 80:20 in our favour.

Not something like BELIEVING Nigeria will benefit but that Nigeria will DEFINITELY benefit. And with the present state of infrastructural development in Nigeria...

you must have a positive believe alws my frnd.

Lionhearted:
So South Africa is now Africa's big brother?

Continue on your ego trip. Nigeria is not joining the trade deal, at least for now.

of course south africa is a big brother to all african states, it runs all subsahara african countries. if you are in nigeria just look outside am sure you will see south african brand.

zhike:
the problem is Nigeria is struggling now, we must try something new.

Nigeria is struggling because of visionless and incompetent leadership and docile followership.

You don't discarded a system and start a new one when it's not working properly, you identify the faults and make corrections. Over time the system will get better.

You need to produce competitively to enable you trade (freely) with others, else you will kill the very production base you are trying to help.

onatisi:
it is one thing to have the resources to produce and it is another thing to have the capacity to produce things ,
yes nigeria has abundant natural and human resources to produce virtually anything in this world but as at present we only have limited capacity to produce very little , this is why government need to quickily develop all necessary infrastructures to enable Nigerians have the capacity to produce exportable goods and servoces

How is the government different from the people who own the government itself?
Will infrastructure work itself without an educated pool of differently skilled labour force? Is that even possible
Is there any developed country that does not guarantee free education and even compulsory for every child?

onatisi:
nigeria is just a market for most of these countries , there virtually no country in the world that doesnt make money out of nigeria one way or the other but very few serious industrialist will think of coming to set up production factories here due to many limitating factors . nigeria is the biggest market in africa and the largest black nation in the world and also the 8th largest oil producing nation in the world , if all things are equal , we are not supposed to be looking for investors to come here rather they are the ones who shoould be begging to come .

Nigeria is also the extreme poverty capital of the world with low scores on Human Development Index, HDI. Does that not mean our country is the shittyhole Trump called it filled with fantastically corrupt hypocrites according to David Cameron

Zhike I don't get you.

zhike:
you don't have to wait for govt, Nigeria business should do that. make product and export them. skill is a minor thing because it could be learnt.

zhike:
you don't have to wait for govt, Nigeria business should do that. make product and export them. skill is a minor thing because it could be learnt.

The understatement of the millenia. Skill is everything.
Skill aka manpower is the most important and I say most expensive of the factors for production, industrialization and development. Countries like Japan and Switzerland has only manpower as their most important resource. In many climes, it is a crime not to send your child to school.

The reason Africa is poor is not because it lacks natural resources, but because it lacks skilled manpower. The earlier we take education serious and invest massively in skills and education, the earlier we get out of poverty.