AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA: AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IN AGENDA

Abstract

The paper examines African Continental Free Trade Area: Africa’s Development in Focus. The curiosity for development and a self-reliant continent paves way for the negotiation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) which was launched in June, 2015 and signed into an Agreement by 44 member countries on 21st March, 2018. The development agenda was more for the economic development of Africa at large in the competitive world. The objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of AFCFTA on the development of the African continent. This paper relied on secondary data of analysis such as journals, magazines, texts, and newspapers in a descriptive and empirical analysis of methodology. The theory employs in this study is the development paradigm of human capital theory, which is important to the explosive discourse in this study. The findings of the paper revealed the weak manufacturing state of Africa and low technology know-how, which is more challenging to the industrialization development of Africa. One of the prime recommendations of this paper is the need for strategic human resources development to scientific and high technology base level.