- Registration Hitches Threaten Exports to West African Countries
Nigerian exporters attempting to take advantage of the Economic Community of West African States Trade Liberalisation Scheme and export to West African countries are finding it difficult doing so because of problems they encounter while trying to obtain documentation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme is the main ECOWAS operational tool for promoting the West African region as a free trade area. This is one of the objectives of the community, which is the establishment of a common market through the liberalisation of trade by the abolition among member states of Customs duties on imports and exports.
The President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Babatunde Ruwase, expressed concerns about the hitches being faced by Nigerian exporters trying to trade under the scheme.
He spoke in Lagos on Thursday at a press briefing on the state of the economy, noting that the problem could stem from the fact that the ETLS was managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“In the past, Nigeria used to have Ministry of Integration and Economic Cooperation which had the responsibility of facilitating trade with other African countries but this ministry has fused into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
Ruwase recommended that the administration of the ETLS be moved from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and specifically under the Nigerian investment Promotion Commission, adding, “This will improve the administration of the ETLS and serve exporters better.”
On the general outlook of the economy, the LCCI president noted that the improvement in economic growth as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics would impact positively on the confidence of both foreign and domestic investors.
He however observed that the population growth of three per cent per annum was higher than the reported growth rate, implying that per capita Gross Domestic Product was still on the decline.
Ruwase also expressed worry about the rising food inflation, which the NBS put at 12.98 per cent in June as against core inflation of 10.39 per cent and headline inflation of 11.23 per cent.
The LCCI president said in the light of this, the plan by the government to extend tariff payment to locally-manufactured basic household consumables such as soap, detergent, noodles, toilet paper and others would aggravate the poverty situation in the country.
