President Muhammadu Buhari, has called for trade liberalization and deepening in inter-regional synergy to reap the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Speaking at the 9th edition of the African Shippers' Day held in Lagos, the president stated that as African trade moves to a single market window, nations who are party to the agreement must ensure better inter-regional synergy hence stemming the fallbacks in trade as was experience during the Covid19 pandemic.

Represented by the Minister of State for Transportation, Mr. Ademola Adegoroye, stated that as the continent looks to reap the benefits of trading in the trillion-dollar African market, trade liberalization in the form of relaxation of tarrif and introducing favourable trade processes and policies would encourage free flow of goods from one African region to the other.

He said: "The imposition of export bans at the height of the pandemic showed just how exposed and vulnerable Africa countries are. Deepening regional integration to scale up supply capacity and build regional value chains is important to the continent's economic transformation.

"In Nigeria, AfCFTA would be a game changer when it comes to stimulating intra-African trade because the more ambitious the trade liberalization, the greater the expansion of Nigerian exports to it's African partners.

"The Nigerian Government have intensified efforts aimed at identifying new opportunities for diversification and value chains development under the AfCFTA and complementary actions considered necessary to overcome the existing constraints of intra-Africa trade"

Banking on Africa's teeming population, he stated that following the adoption of these reforms, trade would increase significantly among African nations with Nigeria among leading African nations to benefit from the increase in intra-African export.