Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) called for a new deal on Thursday that prioritizes the needs of Africa as a continent and its states.
As he stated, the high rate of talent drain from Africa, which is causing political crises in the EU, cannot be solved by the Fortress Europe approach.
Instead, more opportunities for Africans must be created at home, providing better alternatives to perilous journeys through the Mediterranean.
ATTENTION: Click “HERE” to join our WhatsApp group and receive News updates directly on your WhatsApp!
Buhari stated this in an opinion piece published in The Politico today, Thursday, to mark Nigeria’s participation in the ongoing 6th EU-AFRICA summit in Brussels, Belgium.
The article titled ‘It’s Time for a New Economic Deal Between the EU and Africa,’ Buhari argued that the two continents’ economic relationship needed to be rebalanced to focus on job creation.
“Unfair arrangements have long been skated over in the relationship between the European Union and Africa due to a lack of alternatives.”
These one-sided deals, which are becoming increasingly unsustainable, have prompted calls from both sides of the Mediterranean for a partnership of equals.
Leaders from across my continent will gather with their European counterparts at the EU-Africa Summit to turn such rhetoric into substance.”
Africa’s largest trading partner is currently the EU, and Africa is the world’s fastest growing continent.
While each presents significant opportunities to the other, as partners, We also have a lot of problems in common.
To address them, the EU-Africa relationship must be shifted toward a new economic arrangement.”
He stated that irregular migration (caused by skewed trade deals between Europe and Africa) would continue to be a challenge, citing figures that Africa’s population would rise to 1.3 billion and Nigeria’s population would rise to 400 million by 2050.
“Despite its best efforts, Europe will not find a long-term solution to this problem by reinforcing its Fortress Europe strategy.”
Instead, more opportunities for Africans must be created at home, providing alternatives to the decision to embark on a perilous boat journey to seek them elsewhere.
The EU-Africa relationship must be rebalanced in order to power job creation. Regrettably, today’s arrangements do exactly the opposite.
The President went on to say that while some argue that preferential trade policies with the EU help Africa, the reality is far more complicated.
“For example, while agricultural subsidies to EU farmers are not the same as external tariffs, the effects are the same:
They reduce the competitiveness of Africa’s exports. More than €50 billion is being invested in keeping European food prices low.
African countries are deprived of foreign exchange as their main export market is distorted against them, and agricultural investment is stifled.
Economic Partnership Agreements, on the other hand, provide Europe with greater access to African markets.
At the bottom of the value chain, these free-trade agreements ensure that EU agricultural subsidies deliver yet another blow to African farmers, as artificially depreciated produce floods the market, undermining domestic production.
“At the top of the value chain, premature trade liberalisation demanded by these EPAs has driven nascent manufacturers out of business.”
In other cases, industries simply do not emerge because there is no reason for them to enter the market. As a result, the jobs needed to accommodate the millions of young Africans entering the labor force each year are not created,” he said.
According to Buhari, these factors compelled Nigeria to decline to sign an EPA. However, this was only possible due to her position as Africa’s largest economy. Smaller countries have few options.
He also claimed that concern about such deals is not limited to Africans, citing warnings from within the EU, including from development ministers, that the deals are incompatible with poverty reduction pledges, as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
To address these deep-seated issues, he stated that the solution goes beyond rewriting contracts.
“We also need to change the way we interact.” Speaking with one voice, Africa can leverage its collective clout to secure better deals on the global stage.
“We now meet as continents, and our trade relations should reflect that.” In the future, it is clear what a new economic agreement between our unions should entail. It must provide an opportunity for a fundamentally new economic deal for Africa.
“Europe must provide the opportunity to rid itself of a trade policy that stifles job creation in Africa and impedes efforts to stem economic migration to Europe,” he said.
