Sopuruchi Onwuka

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has outlined a practical pathway for positioning Nigeria’s energy sector to access the $3.4 trillion African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) market, following a strategic webinar focused on meeting rules-of-origin requirements for continental trade.

The engagement, which drew stakeholders from the oil and gas, power, and renewable energy sectors, examined how Nigerian energy products and services can qualify for preferential market access across 54 African countries with a combined population of about 1.4 billion people.

The webinar, titled “Meeting AfCFTA Origin Requirements in Energy Trade,” addressed one of the most significant barriers facing Nigerian exporters under AfCFTA: structuring production and operations to meet origin requirements that determine eligibility for duty-free and preferential trade.

The session also highlighted Nigeria’s potential to emerge as a regional energy and transition-fuel hub, building on existing frameworks such as the West African Power Pool to support cross-border electricity trade.

The initiative was supported by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, and the Acting Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Ene Ette, as part of preparations for the forthcoming Nigeria Local Content AfCFTA Energy Summit, scheduled to hold on Monday. The summit will convene policymakers, industry leaders, and trade experts under the theme “Unlocking Africa’s Energy Future through AfCFTA: Trade, Innovation and Regional Integration.”

Speaking during the webinar, a communications analyst, Joseph Nwokedi, who represented the Acting National Coordinator of Nigeria’s AfCFTA Coordination Office, Mrs Patience Okala, stressed the central role of energy in Africa’s economic integration.

He urged Nigerian companies to shift their focus from Nigeria’s domestic market of about 200 million people to the wider continental market.

“Without energy, there is no industrialisation. Without energy, regional value chains remain aspirational,” Nwokedi said. “With AfCFTA, energy transforms from a domestic infrastructure issue into a tradable, investable, and exportable sector within an integrated African market.”

He noted that even a one per cent penetration of the African market represents about 14 million consumers, underscoring the scale of opportunity available to Nigerian energy firms.

The webinar identified four key pathways for Nigeria’s energy sector to participate in AfCFTA-enabled trade. First, the Electricity Act 2023 allows independent power producers to supply electricity directly to industrial clusters and export processing zones, positioning power generation as a foundation for trade-ready manufacturing.

Second, Nigeria’s AfCFTA service commitments enable professionals such as engineers, electricians, geophysicists, and energy auditors to export services across Africa, subject to mutual recognition of qualifications.

Third, refined petroleum products, gas derivatives, electricity, and renewable energy components can be traded across borders under preferential tariffs, provided they meet AfCFTA rules-of-origin requirements.

Fourth, AfCFTA’s investment protocol, combined with recent domestic reforms including the Presidential Directives on Investment Incentives for 2024–2025, strengthens Nigeria’s credibility in attracting cross-border investment in power generation, transmission, renewable energy, and storage infrastructure.

Delivering a technical presentation, Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Burhan Sulaiman, explained that AfCFTA will eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of goods traded within the bloc over five to 10 years, with an additional seven per cent liberalized over 13 years. However, he emphasized that these benefits are strictly conditional on meeting origin requirements.

“Companies lose benefits because origin was treated as an afterthought,” Sulaiman said. “Origin determines whether you export duty-free or pay full tariffs. It must be built into projects from inception.”

He clarified that origin is determined by where economic production occurs, not by ownership. Foreign-owned companies producing in Nigeria can export as Nigerian origin, while Nigerian companies importing finished goods cannot claim AfCFTA preferences.

Sulaiman explained that products qualify either as “wholly obtained” goods, such as crude oil, natural gas, and locally generated electricity, or through “substantial transformation,” which requires meeting specific value-addition or processing thresholds.

He warned that simple blending, basic distillation, installation-only activities, and assembly of imported components do not qualify under AfCFTA rules.

He also outlined the Nigeria Customs Service’s five-step origin verification process and cautioned that weak or incomplete documentation could invalidate otherwise qualifying exports.

“Origin is not paperwork; it is strategy,” Sulaiman said. “It shapes where you locate facilities, how you source inputs, and how you structure regional partnerships.”

Both speakers emphasized that Nigerian firms must act early to secure competitive advantage as AfCFTA implementation accelerates.

“AfCFTA is happening now,” Nwokedi said. “Early movers will shape supply chains, standards, and partnerships.”

Officials provided updates on AfCFTA implementation, noting that 92 per cent of rules of origin have been agreed, with negotiations ongoing in textiles and automotive sectors. Nigeria has also deployed a fully operational electronic certification system for paperless trade, alongside new customs risk-management frameworks that could allow exporter self-certification.

Government sensitization efforts have intensified through partnerships with chambers of commerce, women’s business groups, zonal outreach programs, and public-private engagement platforms.

“The government will not trade under AfCFTA — exporters will,” officials said. “If they win, Nigeria wins.”