Strategic Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which commenced commercial trading in January 2021 following its 2018 signing in Kigali, represents Africa’s most ambitious economic integration initiative, seeking to establish a single continental market of over 1.4 billion people and a combined gross domestic product exceeding three trillion United States dollars. Nigeria, as Africa’s largest economy and a historic architect of the continent’s regional integration project, occupies a pivotal, if long contested, position within this undertaking, having ratified the AfCFTA Agreement in 2020 after an initially hesitant domestic ratification process. This study examined AfCFTA implementation and its implications for Nigeria’s economic integration within Africa. Anchored on New Regionalism Theory, the study reviewed conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature on AfCFTA’s institutional architecture, gravity-model and empirical assessments of African trade integration, and Nigeria’s specific implementation trajectory, including its 2025 institutional milestones. A qualitative documentary and secondary-data research design was adopted, drawing on academic literature, government implementation reporting and international institutional analysis to assess the extent to which AfCFTA implementation has advanced, or could advance, genuine Nigerian economic integration into African markets. Findings indicate that Nigeria achieved substantial institutional and policy progress in 2025, becoming the first AfCFTA state party to complete and publish a five-year implementation review, gazetting its Provisional Schedule of Tariff Concessions, and ratifying the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, with empirical evidence indicating a positive, if still modest, association between AfCFTA implementation and Nigeria’s non-oil export performance, but that structural bottlenecks, including weak transport and logistics infrastructure, low industrial capacity and persistent non-tariff barriers, continue to constrain the translation of institutional progress into substantial trade and economic diversification gains. The study recommends sustained infrastructure investment prioritising trade corridors, deeper harmonisation of Nigeria’s tariff and regulatory framework with continental commitments, expanded support for export-ready small and medium enterprises, and continued institutional coordination through Nigeria’s AfCFTA Coordination Office. The findings extend an emerging literature on the gap between AfCFTA institutional commitment and substantive economic integration outcomes in Africa’s largest economy.