The need for implementable trade policies in africa
                     The Need for 
“Implementable” 
Trade Policies in 
Africa
Farouk Gumel, Nigeria
Farouk Gumel- In recent years, the 
importance of rice in Nigeria, and indeed 
West Africa’s, economy and politics is 
clear for all to see. On paper, Africa’s 
policy is to be self-sufficient on food. 
However, the implementation has been a 
different story. While some countries 
pursue a food self-sufficiency by 
supporting backward integration, others 
have been increasing their imports of 
food items from Asia (China, India and 
Thailand) and South America (Brazil). 
This resulted in tensions between some 
countries on the continent. The most 
visible one is in the Economic 
Community of West African States 
(ECOWAS), the West African political and 
trading union block.
Nigeria started its “rice revolution” in 2015. The 
Nigerian Government, through various monetary and 
fiscal policies, supported its farmers and millers to 
produce and process local rice while penalising and 
restricting importers. Nigeria introduced levies and 
foreign exchange restrictions on food imports while 
providing concessionary loans and tax incentives to 
farmers and investors setting up food processing 
facilities. According to the Rice Processors Association 
of Nigeria (RIPAN), the number of integrated rice mills 
in Nigeria increased from less than 10 in 2015 to over 
40 by October 2020 while local paddy production has 
also increased.
Realistically, no nation or region can fully 
eliminate food importation. But African can 
surely reduce it as the continent has the 
labour and the arable land needed to meet 
most of its needs. 
If Africa were to halve its food import by 
2025, some of$55 billion which would have 
been sent overseas will be injected directly 
into Africa’s rural economy on an annual 
basis. 
This spending will link Africa’s urban 
consumer with his rural counterpart who 
produces grains and other non-exportable 
agricultural products. By doing this, the rural 
farmer is now included in Africa’s prosperity 
story.
In August 2019, Nigeria closed its land borders with two of 
its neighbours – Republic of Niger and Republic of Benin. 
Nigeria accused these countries of undermining its food 
security programs by allowing, and sometimes supporting, 
the smuggling of food items (mainly rice and poultry 
products) through their territories into Nigeria. According to 
the Nigerian authorities, food items are imported into 
Benin’s seaport of Cotonou, thereby evading the levies put 
in place at Nigerian ports, and illegally smuggled into 
Nigeria through its large and porous land borders with Benin 
(over 800km) and Niger (over 1400km).
Thailand is one of the largest exporters of rice to 
Africa. According to data presented by the Thai Rice 
Exporters Association, direct exports to Nigeria 
dropped between 2014 and 2018 as shipments to 
Benin Republic significantly increased. In 2019, 
exports to Benin dropped showing the impact of 
Nigeria’s border closure while in 2020, the lockdowns 
because of COVID-19 meant exports to Africa stopped 
completely.
This impasse has led mixed outcomes 
for many regional companies such as 
TGI Group, a pan African conglomerate 
with operations in Nigeria, Benin, 
Ghana and Ivory Coast. According to 
Farouk Gumel, an Executive Director 
at TGI, the group’s Nigerian food 
operations have flourished while their 
business in Benin, which relies on 
trade with Nigeria, was adversely 
impacted by the border closure. 
Farouk Gumel said “since the border closure, our 
Nigerian rice and vegetable oil businesses have been 
growing and creating jobs locally. For Benin, it was 
initially difficult. But we adjusted our operations by 
exploring new markets in other West African 
countries. Now, we have a good balance”.
TGI is now looking to expand both its Benin and Nigeria 
operations to cater for these new market opportunities 
that came up due to the border closure. Farouk Gumel 
said “the ECOWAS trade policy framework is very 
comprehensive. The problem has always been on 
implementation. For the first time in a long time, we 
are seeing Benin, Niger and Nigeria having very honest 
conversations on working together on implementing 
policies in a fair and equitable manner.” He adds that “ 
the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) 
secretariat can learn a lot from these discussions. It is 
always easier to conceive a theory than to implement 
it in real life”.
THANK YOU!!