AfCFTA: Will Nigeria Lead Or Sabotage Africa’s Biggest Chance?

The world is closing its doors. Countries are raising tariffs, protecting their own, and leaving others to their destinies. Africa cannot sit and watch. That is why the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is so important. It is Africa’s biggest economic gamble since independence.

The idea is clear: Africans should trade more with each other. Buy rice from Abidjan before Beijing, process cocoa in Lagos before exporting to London, sell Nigerian fabrics in Nairobi, and Kenyan coffee in Kano. If it works, jobs will come, poverty will be reduced, and Africa will finally act like a continent that believes in itself.

But Africa has made promises before. ECOWAS said borders were open. We know the truth. Trucks carrying onions from Niger still rot at the Seme border. Customs officers still collect bribes like toll gate tickets. Presidents close borders overnight and call it “policy”.

COMESA and SADC made their own noise. They collapsed because the roads were bad, the railways were dead, and the leaders were weak. They signed papers in Addis Ababa but abandoned them in their capital cities.

And who can forget NEPAD? The New Partnership for Africa’s Development was sold as the magic key to Africa’s growth. Presidents, especially President Obasanjo, wore it like a badge. Billions were pledged, and meetings were held in fancy halls. Then silence. NEPAD became another slogan that faded away.

AfCFTA could face the same fate if leaders repeat the same old game of promises without action.

AfCFTA could end up like that, as another fine speech for archives.

For Nigeria, Africa is watching us. We are the giant, at least by population and GDP. If we rise, AfCFTA rises. If we fail, the whole project stumbles. But how ready are we, really?

We import toothpicks and sand. We import petrol, though we swim in crude oil. We once closed our borders to “protect local rice”, but the price of rice went through the roof, and smugglers became millionaires.

Go to Apapa and see shame with your eyes. Containers wait weeks because the roads are broken. Lagos to Ibadan is just 120km, but trailers spend eight hours crawling through potholes. And every trader knows customs wahala. Official duty may be ₦2m, but by the time you pass 20 checkpoints and “settle boys”, you are bleeding ₦5m.

This is the Nigeria that wants to lead AfCFTA.

Yet, the opportunity is massive. Imagine an Aba shoemaker selling his sneakers in Accra instead of begging importers in China. Imagine tomatoes from Jos moving easily to markets in Niamey without rotting on the way. Imagine Yaba techies servicing clients in Kigali without worrying about payment in dollars. That is AfCFTA in action.

But we must be careful. Bigger economies like Nigeria and South Africa can swallow smaller ones if there is no fairness. Corruption can crush trust before it begins. Leaders can give sweet speeches in public, but block progress in their offices due to vested interests.

Nigeria cannot afford to play those games.

We must fix our roads, ports, and power. We must reform customs and end the border drama. We must finally reduce our obsession with oil and invest in what people actually need: food, clothes, technology, housing and healthcare. Most of all, we must include our women, our youth, and the informal traders who form the heart of African markets.

AfCFTA is not just about moving goods. It is about dignity. It is Africa saying, “We will not forever beg the world to feed us.”

The question is simple. Will Nigeria lead this movement, or will we sabotage it with our bad habits?

The answer will shape not just Nigeria’s tomorrow, but Africa’s destiny.

– Young Ozogwu is a scholar. He writes from Abuja, Nigeria.

AfCFTA: Will Nigeria Lead Or Sabotage Africa’s Biggest Chance? is first published on The Whistler Newspaper