INTRODUCTION
The 18th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of States and
Governments of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in
January 2012, adopted a decision to establish an African
Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) with an indicative date of
2018.1The free trade area is to include all fifty-four
(54) African countries with a population of more than one billion
people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US
$3.4 trillion.2 Subsequently in June 2015, at the
twenty-fifth summit of the African Union held in South Africa,
negotiations towards the establishment of AFCFTA were launched.
The lack of intra-African Trade can however be adduced to the
fact that many African countries are poor and can hardly produce
anything their neighbouring countries might want to trade.
Furthermore, the Historical effect of Africa's geography (with
specific reference to River Niger) makes it difficult for countries
within the River Niger area to
