The Nigerian Government has restated its commitment to achieving its mandate of wealth and value creation as well as driving trade facilitation and market access.
This is according to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the opening ceremony of the 35th edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair, LITF.
The Fair was organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI.
Adebayo said it was imperative that the country improves on the ease of doing business, increase economic activities and ensure that the economy was diversified whilst still creating jobs for its citizens.
“One of the major policy thrust we are deploying to drive the facilitation of trade and market access is the imminent revision of Nigeria’s trade policy. Its revision will capture our current economic realities and aspirations of father facilitating trade and access to markets both locally and regionally, especially in the advent of the implementation of the African continental free trade area, AfCFTA.
“AfCFTA will among other things enable us to create employment for our large and growing population, diversify the economy from a relatively narrow base, build industrial capacity and trade competitiveness as well as improve the management of our foreign exchange reserves to elevate the economy’s vulnerability to changes in crude oil prices, “ he explained.
Trade Policy
The Minister said that the fully revised version of the trade policy would incorporate significant strategies to mitigate against the concerns of Traders such as infrastructure bottleneck and low domestic demand for made-in-nigeria goods.
He said it would trengthen domestic value chains especially in the agribusiness sector.
“As a Ministry, we recognise the role that the government needs to play, to maintain confidence in both cross-border and wider international trade and investment and this administration is working tirelessly to ensure that this commitment turns into projects that positively affect our nation,” he stated.
The Minister said all these were in recognition of the significant role trade plays in the economic growth of a nation intent on building wealth and improving its foreign reserves position.
“Trade is Central to ending poverty, raising people’s standard of living, accelerating economic growth and improving productivity. It is a key driver of GDP growth, and of course employment creation.”
Amplify Trade Discussions
The relevance of Lagos hosting the trade fair, the Minister said “Lagos also accounts for over 80% of the country’s foreign trade flows and generates over 50% of Nigeria’s port revenues. The Lagos International trade fair is a great platform to amplify our trade discussions and ensure our business community is well positioned for the African continental free trade area, ACFTA.”
Governor of Lagos, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu noted that “This annual trade fair has impacted greatly on the economy through the opportunities it has continued to provide to individuals and corporate organisations to showcase their products and services to a large population of people within this arena.”
He commend the LCCI for their doggedness, determination and commitment that had been demonstrated over the years to grow the exhibition industry even with the challenges posed by the pandemic on the global economy.
Also, the president of LCCI, Mrs Toki Mabogunje, said the theme of the fair, ‘Connecting Businesses, Creating Value’ underscored the importance of relationships and networking among businesses for the purpose of wealth creation.
Mabogunje said the Nigerian economic conditions had been challenging even as the economy recovers from the Coronavirus pandemic shocks and disruptions.
She said as investors, there was need to continue to demonstrate resilience and determination to forge ahead despite these challenges.
The LCCI President explained that,“The LCCI’s trade fairs, specialised exhibitions, and several business events are some of the many ways we support trade and commerce in the economy.
“We are committed to the vision of the current administration in respect of economic diversification and self-reliance and our programmes, advocacy activities, and capacity development are geared towards the realisation of economic aspirations.
“This trade fair provides a platform to identify non-oil alternatives, highlights the significance of value addition and trade equally serves as an avenue to boost economic and commercial activities.”
She charged the government at all levels to do a lot more to attract more private capital into the Nigerian economy.
Confidence Okwuchi
