Interrogating the growth of Africa through the opportunity act and the Nigerian textile industry

Abstract

The study examined the impact of AGOA on the textile industry in Nigeria between 2000 and 2015. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law on May 18, 2000 as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. This paper attempts to answer the question: Did the preferential access to the U.S. market under AGOA increase the volume of textile export from Nigeria to U.S. between 2000 and 2015? Secondary data were used and data collected were analysed using tables and content analysis. The study adopted the Complex Interdependence theory as its preferred framework of analysis and argued that the letter and spirit of AGOA were both in consonance with the neoclassical model of growth for SSA designed by the U.S. We remarked that this liberalised trade introduced by United States in Sub-Saharan Africa through AGOA was equally deepened to strengthen U.S. involvement capacity to this under developed markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study found out that the preferential access to U.S. market under African Growth and Opportunity Act did not increase the volume of textile export from Nigeria to the U.S. between 2000 and 2015. Finally, the study made profound recommendations aimed at maximizing the benefits inherent in the Nigeria-United States trade relationship.