Politics is not played in a void. It is often called a game of numbers. In a way, this is what Morocco is finding out now. Members of the Organised Private Sector, OPS, have pointed at the pre-existing Free Trade Agreements, FTA, between Morocco and the European Union, EU, and other pertinent issues as the reasons for the lack of support for the country’s application to join the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
The OPS is of the view that admitting Morocco to ECOWAS while the country still has a pending trade issue with the EU due to the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, poses grave threat to the national and regional economy, particularly the growth and development of local manufacturing in Nigeria. OPS members are made up of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN; Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA; Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA; Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industries, NASSI; and Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME.
In a statement in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the group maintained that signing the EPA in its present form will adversely affect the manufacturing sector, hinder on-going industrialisation, and worsen the unemployment and poverty levels in Nigeria. It described Morocco as a neighbouring and associated country of the European Union. The relations between the two are situated in the European Neighbourhood Policy, ENP, and the Union for the Mediterranean. The country is recognised as an advanced status among the ENP countries, opening up to high levels of political cooperation.
The members, however, recommended that Nigeria should commence the process of aligning her foreign and trade policies in line with national interests and aspirations as well as encourage Morocco to key-in to the on-going development process of the Continental Free Trade Agreement, CFTA, for Africa, which is still at the formation stage.
The detailed statement called on the Nigerian Government, to, “as a matter of national interest and utmost urgency, deploy necessary diplomatic machinery to halt this seemingly unacceptable proposed enlistment of Morocco into the membership of ECOWAS sub-regional bloc. This will enable Nigeria have a formidable position on or before the first quarter of 2018, when the final verdict on the application of Morocco will be concluded by the ECOWAS. Nigeria, no doubt, has maintained cordial bilateral relations with Morocco, which in our opinion should be strengthened”.
Some observers feel that religious sentiments could creep into the equation and certainly water down the weight of the suggestions.
