Melissa Jones, who works at USAID, shared some important news about Nigeria. She said in 2023, Nigeria’s clothes and fabric goods made up just a tiny bit (0.01%) of what the U.S. bought from Africa.
There was a special workshop, or a learning class, organized by USAID and Prosper Africa. This was to help Nigerian businesses that want to sell goods abroad. They taught them how to make the most out of a special trade deal called AGOA.
Let’s learn about AGOA. It stands for African Growth and Opportunity Act. It’s a trade law started in 2000 by the United States to make trading and economic ties better between America and some countries in Africa. AGOA helps these countries by letting them sell some goods to the U.S. without paying extra import taxes.
Melissa Jones said that even though African countries sell a lot of clothes and fabric to the U.S. using AGOA, Nigeria’s part is very small. She explained, “In 2023, Nigeria sold about $548,000 worth of clothes and fabrics, which is just a tiny bit of the total AGOA imports.”
She also mentioned some numbers from past years. Once, in 2008, AGOA imports to the U.S. were $35.3 billion. But by 2023, from the $5.7 billion that Nigeria sent to the U.S., only $3.8 billion were tax-free under AGOA. A big part of this amount was fuel, making up 98% of AGOA imports in 2023. Metals and ores brought in $63 million (2%), farm products $25 million (1%), and chemicals $4 million (0.1%).
Melissa believes Nigeria’s clothing and fabric industry has a big chance to grow but hasn’t done much yet. She said, “AGOA gives Nigerian clothing makers a great chance to sell to the U.S., but they haven’t made the most of it.”
Training to Close the Gap
There was a special AGOA training workshop to help Nigerians in the clothing and fabric business learn how to work better with AGOA and meet U.S. market needs. This training taught about AGOA rules, the market, and how to sell more products. The goal is to help Nigerian sellers make the most of AGOA.
Melissa explained that the training is there to give people the information and tools they need to benefit from AGOA. The hope is to make Nigeria’s clothing exports grow a lot by raising awareness and understanding of AGOA.
The workshop also focused on making Nigerian clothes and fabrics more competitive in the world. They want to help them catch up with other AGOA countries like Kenya, which have done well in getting into the U.S. market, Melissa said.
Melissa added that building stronger local production and meeting world standards are key to improving Nigeria’s share in AGOA exports. She suggested team efforts between the government and private companies to move the industry forward and use AGOA fully.
Things to Remember
In the U.S., the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) checks each year if countries meet AGOA’s rules. This means the U.S. President can add or remove countries. The rules are in Section 104 of the AGOA law. Only countries in sub-Saharan Africa are eligible, and the list may change.
Nigeria is one of these eligible countries. Others are Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic), Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.