The African Development Bank (AfDB) said that Nigeria was the West African’s largest market with great potential to be a main driver of regional integration considering its population.
This is contained in the West African Mid-Term Review and Regional Portfolio Performance Review Paper 2011 – 2015, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to the report, with the GDP rebasing, Nigeria now has the largest economy in Africa and a great potential for its services and manufacturing sectors.
It said the country also attracted half of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming into the region with about 45% in 2012.
“Nevertheless its intra-regional trade has been steadily decreasing, now constituting less than 1% of the country’s total imports and 3% of its export.
The report said closer integration with the region would require Nigeria to open its markets to regional exports – to treat its regional neighbours more as partners rather than merely clients.
The report identified poor cross-border trade and infrastructure, as well as the weaknesses of human capacity and national and regional institutions as some of the challenges of regional integration.
