Abbas Pledges Legislative Overhaul to Unlock AfCFTA Potential for Nigerian Businesses
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has articulated a robust legislative agenda aimed at harnessing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to significantly bolster Nigeria’s economic standing. Speaking at a Legislative Business Meeting during the 2026 National Assembly Open Week, the Speaker underscored the imperative for Nigeria to actively participate in and benefit from the AfCFTA’s single market of over a billion people.
The House, under Speaker Abbas’s leadership, is committed to a comprehensive review and repeal of obsolete laws that currently impede business operations. This legislative push is designed to enhance Nigeria’s global competitiveness, attract crucial foreign and domestic investment, and accelerate the nation’s economic transformation. The Speaker urged the organised private sector to move beyond mere dialogue and engage more proactively with lawmakers, particularly through active participation in public hearings.
“Our young people are building a digital and creative economy that already earns this nation global respect, our farmland can feed the region if we add value at home, and our abundant gas can power a fresh wave of industry,” Speaker Abbas stated, highlighting untapped domestic potential. He referenced the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s projection of a trillion-dollar economy within reach, a vision the House intends to actively legislate towards.
To this end, Speaker Abbas outlined five key commitments to the business community:
1. **Regulatory Clarity and Legislative Predictability:** Ensuring that laws affecting businesses are stable, transparent, and developed with stakeholder input to prevent unforeseen regulatory ambushes for investors.
2. **Reducing the Cost of Doing Business:** Building upon existing tax reforms to harmonise levies across federal, state, and local government tiers, thereby alleviating the burden of multiple taxation on enterprises.
3. **Enhancing Access to Finance:** Strengthening institutions that provide credit to the real economy through legislative measures and oversight, with a particular focus on ensuring financing reaches Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
4. **Boosting Competitiveness:** Repealing outdated legislation that hinders enterprise and enacting new laws to support local manufacturing, agriculture, and Nigeria’s readiness for the continental market.
5. **Effective Delivery and Accountability:** Utilising oversight functions not for harassment, but to ensure public agencies faithfully and courteously implement reforms and are held accountable for their performance.
Recognising the critical need for sustained dialogue, Speaker Abbas proposed the establishment of a standing National Assembly and Business Executive Roundtable (NABER). This forum, intended to convene twice annually, would bring together the leadership of both legislative chambers, economic committees, the organised private sector, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, organised labour, and development partners. NABER’s mission would be to maintain a continuous, structured, and evidence-based conversation between Parliament and the productive economy, aiming to review the business environment, track reform implementation, shape a pro-growth legislative calendar, and proactively identify and address obstacles to investment.
