The Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association,NBA-SBL, has declared it will focus on African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and issues around the trade pact in its 12th annual conference billed for June.
The conference with the theme, ‘Bringing Down the Barriers – The Law as a Vehicle for Intra-Africa Trade’, seeks to provide a platform for the federal government of Nigeria, the African Union (AU), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and other African countries to dialogue with stakeholders on the AfCFTA.
The conference will also examine the opportunities available to legal practitioners in Nigeria when the AfCFTA takes effect. The conference with an aspect on E-commerce also seeks to evaluate the underpinning technology for trading across the continent after the trade pact is signed by Nigeria.
Addressing journalists in Lagos on Thursday, chairman of NBA-SBL, Olumide Akpata, said the conference has become necessary following the importance of issues around the trade agreement adding the conference is to ‘interrogate’ the process with a view to understanding the workability of the trade agreement in Nigeria.
“The conference seeks to ascertain the readiness of Africa as one trading bloc. It is to interrogate the process to understand how the trade agreement will work in Nigeria. The conference will look at the dynamics of the legal profession to prepare the Nigerian legal practice and lawyers for the attendant realities in the event that the agreement is signed, there is also a section on E-commerce which looks at the technology underpinning trade across the continent after the agreement is signed,” Akpata said.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda who also doubles as AU chairman is expected to speak at the conference which holds in Abuja in June.
