The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presented Nigeria with an exceptional lifeline to reboot the economy, an official with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) said on Sunday.

In a statement, Adesoji Adesugba, the Managing Director of NEPZA, said the government will leverage the AfCFTA to boost the country's trade competitiveness.

Adesugba had on Friday guided the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo on an inspection tour of the Kano Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) in the northwest state of Kano.

He added that there was no better time than now to take advantage of the lofty opportunities provided by the agreement for countries in Africa to seamlessly trade among themselves.

All enterprises operating in the country's 44 zones, the official said, were being galvanized to use the trade agreement which commenced from Jan. 1 to stay competitive and relevant.

The minister, according to the statement, described the KFTZ as one of the flagships of the country's free trade zone schemes which NEPZA had done a lot to keep its operations going.

He added that the authority must be supported to carry out its mandate effectively.

Adebayo told his audience that the government was committed to repositioning the scheme to make it become attractive, profitable, and competitive so as to maximally draw from the benefits accruable from AfCFTA.