Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Mr Muda Yusuf, has urged African governments to ensure the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade within the continent.

Yusuf said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. He said that both the private and public sectors of the economy had major roles to play  to improve trade relations within the continent.

According to him, the integration and coordination of the various regional economic blocs was essential to serve as building blocs for African integration.

“The proper coordination of integration initiatives such as African Economic Community, New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and other regional economic communities is a function of the public sector. Cross border investments as well as advocacy in promoting economic integration should be encouraged in the private sector,” Yusuf said.

He also suggested that trade promotion in Africa should be carried beyond the sub-region, noting that initiatives to promote trade within the continent had been limited to sub-regional levels. The director general said that many firms would enjoy significant benefits of economies of scale if they were fully integrated into the African market.

“Africa has a robust market of about one billion people. Intra-African trade will enhance global competitiveness of African firms and lower their costs of production,” the director general said. Yusuf said that the treaties signed to promote trade in the continent had being slowly implemented owing to poor quality of political governance and civil unrest..

“The lack of political will to implement the treaties and drive the integration process has created impediment to successful intra-African trade. We have allowed colonial allegiance and loyalty to take precedence over regional protocols.

The reluctance of African leaders to surrender sovereignty and economic nationalism, coupled with political and social conflicts have made intra-African trade unsuccessful,” he  said.