The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) says the imbalance in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU should be addressed to benefit both parties. The Director of Abuja Liaison Secretariat of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, told newsmen in Abuja that the EPA as was being proposed by the EU, was between two unequal partners.

The EPA is an EU-initiated trade agreement with ECOWAS to enable EU products to have greater access to West African market, where Nigeria holds more than 40 per cent share. Ajayi-Kadir said that on the face value, the EPA was expected to boost trade between the EU countries and the ECOWAS region.

He said: “But the imbalance must be addressed before the agreement could be signed. MAN being a member of the Federal Government Technical Committee on EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, I hold the opinion that the EU can address this imbalance through development programmes.

But as much as the world is coming together to do business, the integrity of our local industries must be preserved and the country must take responsibility as to what happens to its economy. We cannot grant higher percentage of access to foreign goods without taking into consideration the developmental issues that will cushion the effects of the trade imbalance,” Ajayi-Kadir added Ajayi-Kadir said that Nigeria and ECOWAS being the disadvantaged partners in the trade agreement, feared to open their economies to the EU products.
“Our infrastructure is not commensurate with what is happening in the EU countries.

Their (EU) economies are being strengthened after the global crises, while ours is being weakened by internal challenges. MAN insists that development aspects such as building capacity of the private sector and imposing of high import duties on some goods will protect the country”s nascent industry,” the director said. ECOWAS has proposed 9.5 billion Euros for the Development Programme while agreement had yet to be reached on the amount.

At the ECOWAS and EU negotiations meeting held in Bamako in May 2009, the EU only agreed to commit 6.5 billion Euros under the Development Programme of EPA. Another area of divergence was the level with which ECOWAS countries should allow market access of EU products. While the EU insisted on having up to 90 per cent of the market access, the ECOWAS insisted on 70 per cent market access