The federal government, said it had commenced the review of Nigeria’s trade policy in line with its commitment to creating a friendly environment for business and investment.
The review began with the inauguration of a 23-man technical review committee, which has been given three months to submit its report.
The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said during the inauguration in Abuja that the country required a sound trade policy that would be business and investment-friendly in order to attract substantial local and foreign investments and increase its share of the global trade in the next four years.
According to him, some of the existing trade rules, regulations and practices were outdated. This, he said, often resulted in the ad-hoc and sometimes conflicting approach to implementation.
He said: “Currently, Nigeria does not have a comprehensive and coherent trade policy framework to adequately govern and guide the nation on domestic and international trade in view of the dynamism of the global market environment.
“Some of the existing trade rules, regulations and practices are outdated and applied haphazardly, thus resulting in the ad-hoc and sometimes conflicting approach to implementation.”
The minister said the new trade policy would address the shortcomings, map out the strategies for addressing the various trade imbalances and guide the monitoring and evaluation of the various trade agreements and initiatives the government is involved in.
He said the members of the review committee were carefully chosen bearing in mind the important roles their organisations could play in steering the review exercise. There is a balanced and broad representation from the public and private sector, academia and civil society organisations, among others.
The committee has been charged to analyse past and current trade and industrial reforms, identify specific gaps that must be addressed, including why previous review exercises had not achieved the desired results; and identify sectors where the country has the potential and strength to excel in export trade.
It would also conduct in-depth national and regional assessment on trade sector capacities and potential competitive advantages, map out effective measures aimed at harmonising legislation on trade facilitation and other trade and investment-related issues; and come up with a comprehensive package that would stimulate investment in infrastructure.
Aganga said the committee should present a draft trade policy by the end of November 2011 with an executive summary of key issues for consideration at the enlarged National Focal Point.
He said the new policy was expected to be launched in January 2011 after President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval.
According to the minister, Nigeria aims to attract N15trillion private sector investment, aimed at creating jobs and wealth, and the only way to make that happen was to create a good environment for businesses to thrive.
The trade policy review committee is headed by Professor Ade Oyejide, of the University of Ibadan.
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