BI-LATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY: A CASE FOR NIGERIA

Abstract

The quest for development and sustainability through improved trade has caused States to consider, negotiate, enter into and implement trade agreements with other States in order to liberalise their markets. The main motivation is the reduction/elimination of custom duties, barriers and the promotion of goods and services in markets. Agreements are thus made to supervise these relationships. These agreements can be multi-lateral or Bi-lateral in scope. Bi-lateral trade agreements are now a primary means through which improved social services, guaranteed rights of investor access to investment opportunities, privatisation of public service goods and less restricted access to markets are being realised. Despite the numerous benefits of Bi-lateral Trade Agreements, it is undoubtedly accompanied with a plethora of demerits with the diminution of the ability of a State to manage its economic and monetary affairs without external influence and control—its economic sovereignty. The impact of these agreements on such States are equally numerous ranging from trade imbalance and deficit, free movement of goods and services to capital flight, brain drain as well as steady diminishment of the nation’s economic sovereignty and the inability to take decisions on certain international matters. Nigeria enjoys numerous Bi-lateral Trade Agreements and Relationships with other States in its resolve to foster its economic development. These agreements have in no small measure fostered the overall growth of the Nation’s economy. However, have these agreements, as noble as they seem, chipped away at the Nation’s economic sovereignty? This will be addressed in this paper.