Description

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) are contractual agreements between countries within the same region or different region to remove every form of barriers to trade between them in order to promote growth and development while also ensuring political and security ties among them. The integration of West Africa into World trade with the establishment of World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1975 to coordinate world trading activities equally propelled the formation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a regional economic body with the aim of promoting trade and collaboration among members. Nigeria is party to major trade negotiation processes involving the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade agreements between the EU and the ACP countries, and most recently, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The EPA promises to be a major achievement from a trade and development point of view as it becomes the main tool through which the EU and ECOWAS countries renegotiate their trade and economic collaboration. The EPAs have an original aim of fostering free trade between the EU and six African Caribbean Pacific regions, covering goods, services and other trade-related issues, with added development support and political dialogue. This study examines the political economy dimension to economic partnership agreements by Nigeria and concludes that Nigeria trades more with the European and Asian countries than with the African countries. However, given the fact that Nigeria is the founding member of ECOWAS and African Union (AU), there is need for Nigeria to redefine her trade direction with a view to trading more with African countries and work towards establishing common market and economic union that would culminate in the creation of common currency to aid trade easily among African countries.