Nigeria : Time to Take the Lead on Regional and Global Trade Integration in West Africa

The birth of a middle class across the continent gives room for expanding regional trade in ECOWAS. However, as a first step, commitments under the Ecowas Trade Liberalization Strategy (ETLS) should be carried out. Implementation of the ETLS is a prerequisite for raising the low levels of intra-regional trade that are attributable to the imposed barriers to trade, formal and informal. That regional strategy should not provide a distraction from the need to acquire competitiveness on world markets. In addition to comparing Nigeria’s trade performance on a comparative basis and documenting the high costs of these barriers to trade, the report makes two recommendations.