According to the Regional Director of CIPE Africa, Lars Benson, the Trade in Services Coalition aims to integrate Nigeria into the five priority sectors of the AfCFTA Trade in Services, namely business, communication, finance, tourism, transport and travel-related services.

Analysts reckoned the Trade in Services Coalition had the potential to improve African industry if it managed the AfCFTA protocol properly and addressed the drawbacks to past attempts at economic integration in the continent.

Economist and former President of the Chartered Institute of Banking of Nigeria, Prof. Segun Ajibola, commended the campaign to move beyond trade in physical goods and extend the scope of AfCFTA to the Services Protocol to help achieve the major goal of improved economic integration for Africa.

He submitted that services generally aid the growth of the primary and secondary sectors of any economy but opportunities in services areas, including transport and tourism, have been ceded to other parts of the world.

“Some countries in Africa have made good efforts to expand communication on the continent (South Africa), banking and finance (Nigeria, South Africa), and tourism (Egypt, Kenya). But lots are begging for attention,” Ajibola asserted.

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