AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ACP-EU PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT ON NIGERIA WITH A FOCUS ON THE LOMÉ CONVENTION AND COTONOU AGREEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The European Union’s relationship with the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries can be traced back to the treaty of Rome and specifically the Georgetown agreement on the organization of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific groups of states of 1975 (Matteo, 2020). According to Matteo (2020), Africa is a well-known European Union’s trade partner of choice. Therefore, after the African States gained independence, the European Economic Community (EEC) became acquainted with the former colonial states of the continent. The EEC’s first association agreement with African ex-colonies was signed in Yaoundé in 1963 followed by the second Yaoundé Convention of 1969. Underlying the agreements are the components of trade promotion, economic independence, and social development of the State Parties.

The Yaounde Convention was followed by the Lomé Convention in 1975 to establish a new framework for cooperation between the European Economic Community (EEC) and the developing African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations. The preferential access granted to certain products from the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) to the European Economic Community (EEC) was mainly based on the quotas system. In fact, Nsongura (2004) alluded that nonreciprocal duty-free access to the EU markets and other assistance was granted to ACP countries as part of its broader stipulations. The financial envelope traditionally used for these purposes is the European Development Fund (Nsongura, 2004). The EEC committed 3 billion euros to the development of the ACP countries through the European Unit of Account (EUA). The Lomé Convention was also renewed multiple times in 1980, 1986, 1991, and 1996 (Matteo, 2020).

Given the dynamic nature of human relations and also the tenured nature of the agreements to last for only 20 years, the Lomé Convention was replaced by the Cotonou partnership agreement. Matteo (2020) captured the Cotonou partnership agreement aptly when he argued that the Lomé Convention was modified to pave the way for a more inclusive political, social, and economic cooperation hence, the Cotonou partnership agreement was signed on June 23, 2000, in Cotonou, Republic of Benin. These agreements, notwithstanding, at the core of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) cooperation is the “objective of reducing and eventually eradicating poverty” among member nations (Article 1 of the Cotonou partnership agreement, 2000). To this end, the developing state of member ACP states are well- acknowledged but with an intendment to seize prevailing economic opportunities to advance the course of development in line with the sustainable development goals.

The imperatives presented by the Lomé and Cotonou agreements further buttress the provisions of section 16 (2) (a) which states inter alia that “the State shall direct its policy towards ensuring the promotion of a planned and balanced economic development”. This stipulation, in fact, underscores the objective of the ACP-EU partnership agreements as established earlier. Indeed, section 16 of the 1999 constitution (as altered) deepened the essence of section 14 (2) (b) which provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Overall, given that the government derives its power and authority from the people to whom sovereignty belongs (section 14 (2) (a)), it is safe to assert that Nigeria’s membership of the ACP-EU is towards the betterment of the lives of the citizens. Nevertheless, the trajectory of this study connotes a specific analysis of the benefits derived from the respective ACP-EU partnership agreements since its inception in 1975. Therefore, the defining element of the study remains the effectiveness of the Lomé Convention and Cotonou partnership agreements in advancing the economic wellbeing of citizens given that the ACP-EU by itself strives to eradicate poverty.

In perspective, the objectives of the ACP-EU as outlined in the Cotonou agreement are geared toward achieving peace and stability, managing migration and mobility, consolidating democracy and good governance, unleashing economic opportunities, reaching human development standards, and addressing climate change among member states. Consequently, this study sought to assess the effects of the ACP-EU’s Lomé Convention and Cotonou Partnership Agreements on Nigeria’s trade performance between 1975 and 2020. Worthy of note also, is that these partnership agreements are within the context of relationships between the listed members of the ACP-EU Partnership as provided in Appendix VI. The list of ACP-EU members provided in Appendix VI, gives an overview of the membership of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific- European Union (ACP-EU) partnership thus, providing insight into multilateral relationships along the lines of established national goals or pursuits. Based on this, Nigeria pursues its national agenda with member states.

​​​​​​​Statement of the Problem

Like every international organization, the African, Caribbean, and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) partnership is the product of a convention or protocol the first being the Yaounde Convention of 1969. Following international law, this convention is of a multilateral dimension given the composition of its signatories. In any case, parties to an international protocol or convention enter into it because of pecuniary benefits inherent in them. Thus, Nigeria participates in the ACP-EU relations to serve her interest. In fact, Nigeria’s participation is in sync with her foreign policy objectives expressed in Section 19 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered). A portion of this section of the constitution provides among other things that the country’s foreign policy will be driven towards “the promotion and protection of National interest as well as the promotion of Africa integration and support for African unity”.

According to Ukaoha (2018), the ACP-EU relations support the stipulations of the Abuja treaty of 1991 which is on the strengthening of Africa’s integration through the establishment of a free trade area and common market with the gradual removal of obstacles to the free movement of persons, goods and services, etc. However, the recent operational document of the ACP-EU being the Cotonou partnership agreement deviates from the non-reciprocal duty-free access to EU markets by ACP nations' disposition of the former agreement (Lomé convention) to the extent that the latter introduces a novel idea known as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). In context, while the spirit of the non-reciprocal trade gives preferences to exports from a group of less developed or emerging countries to a single country with a larger market, EPAs, on the other hand, are conceived as an agreement between two Free Trade Areas or two Customs Unions where most tariffs are eliminated between the two. The EPAs was also introduced because of the need to transform the trade regime to a WTO compliant agreement.

Nevertheless, it must be stated that the adoption of the Cotonou agreement follows the stipulation of the ACP-EU partnership which provides for the tenureship of its partnership agreements to last for twenty (20) years. Following, the disposition of the trade components of the various instruments of the ACP-EU relations, a question, therefore, should be asked on which of the agreements served Nigeria’s trade interest the most? It must be stated, however, that while scholars attributed the low trade performance of the ACP bloc during the Lomé convention to the uncompetitive nature of their exports, the lack of diversification, among others (Roy, 2016), the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which was the hallmark of the Cotonou partnership agreement has been criticized for its non-preferential disposition gives EU products an edge over

ACP ones. Against this backdrop, this study evaluated Nigeria’s trade performance between 1975 and 2020 i.e., the eras of the Lomé Convention and the Cotonou partnership agreement.

​​​​​​​Research questions

The study addressed the following questions:

1. What was Nigeria’s trade performance during the respective regimes of the ACP-EU partnership agreements viz Lomé convention and the Cotonou agreement?

2. What were the obstacles to Nigeria’s trade performance during the respective ACP-PEU Partnership Agreements?

3. How can Nigeria’s trade performance be improved post the Lomé convention and Cotonou partnership agreements?

4. Is the study of the ACP-EU partnership agreements relevant to parliamentary administration?

​​​​​​​Research objectives

The main objective of this study was to assess Nigeria’s trade performance viz-a-viz the respective ACP-EU agreements (Lomé Convention and Cotonou partnership agreement). The specific objectives are to:

1. assess Nigeria’s trade performance during the respective regimes of the ACP-EU partnership agreements viz Lomé convention and the Cotonou agreement;

2. examine the obstacles to Nigeria’s trade performance during the respective ACP-PEU Partnership Agreements; and

3. suggest ways to improve Nigeria’s trade performance post Lomé convention and Cotonou partnership agreement.

4. examine the relevance of the study of the ACP-EU partnership agreement to parliamentary administration.

Significance of the Study

This study will be significant in the following ways. For instance, it would contribute to existing theories, practical implications between and among countries, and policymaking as legislation. Therefore, it would provide a basis to accurately fashion out a favourable trade policy in Nigeria given some benefits inherent in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). It would also serve as a useful guide to the National Assembly in its pursuit of trade-related legislation. Besides, there is a huge gap in knowledge in this area as only a few studies have been dedicated to examining ACP-EU agreements much less a comparative analysis of two of such agreements. In the light of the foregoing, researchers, students, etc. would find it a useful reference material in this area of knowledge. Thus, it will serve as a springboard for the body of knowledge.

​​​​​​​Scope of the Study

The scope of this study covers the areas of geography, analysis, and time. On the choice of geography, the study is delimited to Nigeria. Also, to buttress certain issues raised by the research questions, the time scope would be the period between 1975-2020 because of the tenured nature of the ACP-EU agreements for 20 years each. Its analytical scope will be the trade performance of the government within the periods given the contention of trade performance within the eras of the Lomé Convention and the Cotonou partnership agreement held sway.

​​​​​​​Definition of key terms

African, Caribbean, Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU): The ACP-EU refers to the European Union's relations with the group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries known as the ACP States comprising a significant element of the EU’s development policy.

Non-reciprocal trade: Non-reciprocal trade agreements are unique in that preferences are granted for exports from a group of less developed or emerging countries to a single country with a larger market.

Conventions/Protocol: Convention refers to all kinds of agreements, compacts or treaties entered into by the nations, such as Geneva Convention. A convention could be bilateral or multilateral thus, defining the number of signatories to it. Treaties, conventions, and protocols are often applied to mean the same thing.

Lomé Convention: The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 71 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo till the year 2000.

Cotonou Agreement: The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States ("ACP countries"). It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin's largest city, by 78 ACP countries and the then fifteen Member States of the European Union.

Trade Partnership Agreement: A trading partnership agreement is an agreement drawn up by two parties that have agreed to trade certain items or information. The agreement outlines the terms of the trade or trading process, including responsibilities, who's involved, how goods or information will be delivered and received, and duties or fees.

​​​​​​​Organization of the study

Chapter one contains the general introduction, which consists of the background, statement of the problem, research questions and objectives, the significance of the study, scope of the study, and the outline of the chapters. Chapter two provides a review of the literature and theoretical framework, while chapter three focuses on the research methodology. Chapter four presents the data and discussion of results. Finally, chapter five is the summary of the study, conclusion and recommendations, as well as contributions of the research to knowledge.