The Federal Government of Nigeria has called on African countries to increase investment in training Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to improve trade standardisation and drive economic growth across the continent. This call was made as the government reaffirmed its commitment to promoting education and technical standards as key enablers for enhancing intra-African trade.
The call was issued by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Anite, during the 30th General Assembly of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) held in Abuja, Nigeria. The event, themed “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building a Quality Culture – One Market, One Standard,” brought together African ministers to address the challenges of technical barriers to trade in Africa through the harmonisation and implementation of African standards and conformity assessment systems.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Nura Rimi, Anite emphasised the critical role of implementing standards in fostering sustainable development, innovation, and export-oriented manufacturing. She underscored the vital link between education, sustainable development, industrialization, and trade.
“Successful and sustainable exports depend on compliance with quality requirements of standards for goods and services based on globally recognised quality infrastructure,” Anite stated. “Standardisation is a cornerstone for economic efficiency, facilitating trade, and establishing trust through guaranteed specifications and quality requirements.”
The Minister stressed the need for policymakers to gain a deeper understanding of standards, especially in the rapidly advancing context of technologies such as artificial intelligence. She further emphasised the importance of equipping African youth with relevant skills to foster innovation among SMEs, which is crucial for achieving Africa’s industrial development and integration agenda under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
“This meeting also points out the need to equip the African youth with relevant skills and SMEs with innovative tendencies needed for 21st Africa’s Industrial Development and Integration Agenda as provided under the AfCFTA to create awareness on the role of standardisation in sustainable development to catch up with the rest of the world,” Anite added.
By reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, the AfCFTA aims to significantly boost intra-African trade, with projections indicating an increase of up to $35 billion per year. Anite called for robust collaboration among ARSO member states to implement the AfCFTA’s Common Regulatory Framework, particularly in areas related to technical barriers to trade, to enhance intra-African trade, industrialization, and economic diversification.
The Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Ifeanyi Okeke, emphasised the organisation’s commitment to fostering a quality culture and knowledge transfer through standardisation, which is significant progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. He noted that the forum presents an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the role of standardisation in future-facing development needs for Africa, including promoting the competitiveness of Africa’s SMEs and Made in Africa products and developing effective quality infrastructure based on internationally recognised quality policies.
Alexander Dodoo, the President of ARSO, urged African countries to leverage trade standards to change the narrative for Africa. “We have to create African solutions for African problems; if not, quality education will be meaningless. Our biggest challenge is our jobs; our youths are going across borders in the new slave trade because we have not created meaningful jobs for them,” he said.