Shaquana Teasley, the leader of Agate Solutions LLC, shared some news. She said that in 2023, Nigeria sent only a tiny bit, about 0.01%, of its clothes and fabric to the United States through a special trade program called the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
She talked about this at a special event in Nigeria. This event was put together by USAID and Prosper Africa. They wanted to teach Nigerian businesses and other important people about how to make the most out of AGOA and help Nigeria do better with it.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA for short, is a set of rules made by the U.S. in 2000. It wants to help trade and friendship between the U.S. and some African countries. With AGOA, these countries can send some goods to the U.S. without paying extra taxes.
Teasley explained that when we look at all the clothes and fabric sent from Africa to the U.S. with AGOA, Nigeria’s part is very small.
She said, “In 2023, Nigeria sold only $548,000 worth of clothes and fabric to the U.S. This was just 0.01% of the total sent under AGOA.”
She also said, “In 2008, the use of AGOA was better, reaching $35.3 billion. But in 2023, out of all the $5.7 billion Nigeria sent to the U.S., only $3.8 billion didn’t have to pay extra because of AGOA. Most things sent were fuel, making up 98% of the AGOA stuff in 2003, which was $3.7 billion.”
“Other things like metals and ores made $63 million, about 2%; farm products were $25 million, around 1%; and chemicals were $4 million, which is less than 1% (exactly, 0.1%).”
Teasley said Nigeria could do much better with clothes and fabric, but it hasn’t used this chance much yet.
“AGOA gives Nigerian clothes makers a big opening to sell in the U.S. market. But the industry hasn’t really used this chance,” she told the important people at the event.
Learning to Close the Gap
The goal of the AGOA training event is to help Nigerians in the fabric and clothing sector learn the U.S. market and AGOA rules.
The sessions at the event shared important information about AGOA, what the U.S. market wants, and how to grow exports. The aim is to make Nigerian exporters stronger by teaching them and sharing knowledge.
Teasley said the training is to “give everyone involved the skills and tools needed to take full advantage of AGOA.”
The hope is that by spreading the word about AGOA, Nigeria can greatly improve its clothing exports.
The training also looks at making Nigerian fabrics and clothes more competitive globally, to stand out like those from other African countries such as Kenya, which have successfully entered the U.S. market, Teasley explained.
She added that improving local production and meeting international standards is crucial for Nigeria to enhance its role in AGOA exports. She encouraged cooperation between government and private companies to make the industry better and use AGOA fully.
Things You Should Know
The United States, through their Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), checks every year if countries are still meeting the rules needed.
This means the U.S. President can decide to let a country in or out of the program.
Only the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can join AGOA, and the list of countries can change.
Nigeria can join AGOA along with countries like Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.