• Kalu, Natasha seek WTO’s collaboration to boost primary products exports
The National Assembly has expressed their willingness to collaborate with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Digital and Marine economy.
The Senate President and Chairman, National Assembly, Senator Godswill Akpabio, gave this indication while addressing the WTO media, shortly after a visit to its Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, in her office in Geneva, Switzerland.
Akpabio is in Geneva as head of Nigeria’s delegation to the on-going 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu and Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, have sought the collaboration of WTO to boost the export of the country’s primary products and leverage the opportunities provided by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI).
Akpabio told the media that the delegation was at the WTO on a courtesy call and to look for areas of collaboration with the organisation in the various sectors of the economy for the overall benefit of Nigerians.
He said: “We used our attendance at the IPU to pay courtesy visit to one of Nigeria’s very costly export to the world, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the director general of the WTO.’’
We came to thank her for the job she is doing for the world and thank her staff for supporting and standing by her to succeed. We, in Nigeria are very proud of her.
“We had discussions on the various developmental programmes of the WTO and we noticed that there were spaces where Nigerians can become major players.
“We discussed issues affecting trade back home in Nigeria and ways in which the National Assembly can assist in removing barriers, through legislation for the benefit of our people.
“We also talked about issue of regulations concerning digital economic contents, illegal fishing along the coastal states of Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.
“How Nigerian women could benefit from the recent programme funded by the organisation was also discussed. The establishment of a digital trade portal, where-in all trade information could be accessed by our people top our discussion with the WTO.”
Akpabio noted that “the deliberations were fruitful and we are confident that with our support in all of these, Nigerians would be the better for it.”
On his part, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, said, “our best export to the world, took her time to bring us up to speed on the various innovations and initiatives of the WTO and what Africa and Nigeria stand to benefit from.
“We are going back more refreshed because we have seen a space here for Africa to thrive in business and in trade.”
Speaking in the same vein, Okonjo-Iweala described the visit of the Senate president and the Deputy Speaker, to her office as “a huge honour. We were able to talk on those things we are doing at the WTO that would help make a material difference for Nigerians.
“We spoke of recent programme that we launched in some development programme from the standards and trade facilities to help in improving sanitary and vital sanitary standards for some of the crops in Nigeria, so that it helps in diversifying the economy to even fisheries and illegal mining of the waters of Nigeria.”
According to her, “a lot of things on the table have already been discussed. I am honoured by this visit and I am home-sick.”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who met with Okonjo-Iweala at the sidelines of the ongoing 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) holding at the International Conference Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, said: “It is my earnest expectation under the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, to see Nigeria take advantage of these export opportunities through your support and by working closely with my office as the Senate Committee Chairman on Local Contents,” she stated.
She said amid the acute dollar shortages, the country could tap the opportunities to boost its non-oil exports under AGOA to earn the much-needed foreign exchange for its economy.
In her remarks, the WTO director-general lauded Senator Natasha for her valuable contributions and promised to look into her recommendations.
She also assured her readiness to collaborate with the Kogi lawmaker for the greater good of Nigeria, especially in the area of trade and commerce.
AGOA, a US trade initiative established in 2000, allows African nations to export various products, especially non-oil goods, to the US on favourable terms, thereby promoting economic development and trade on the continent.
It has been a crucial lifeline for many African economies, offering opportunities to access the vast American market.
South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Ghana dominated the 2022 non-oil AGOA exports, accounting for 90 per cent of the total non-oil AGOA exports in 2022, with Nigeria missing on the list.
Deputy Speaker Kalu who expressed concern over the downward slope of export of primary products from Africa to other parts of the world, solicited the cooperation of the WTO in boosting the exportation of primary products from Nigeria and Africa in general.
He said most businessmen from Africa encountered challenges marketing the products due to aflatoxins that come in contact with them before reaching their destinations, especially within the framework of “the AGOA” which ultimately provides duty-free treatment to goods designated from sub-Saharan African countries (SSAs).
He solicited the help of the WTO to set up centres in Africa for the treatments of the primary products packaged for export.
“Africa is interested in exporting our primary products. We have always had issues with these primary products we are exporting. I don’t know what you are putting together to help these products reduce aflatoxins because it’s one of the complaints about products coming from Africa.
“I don’t know if there will be centres around Africa where businessmen who cannot afford to do this decontamination will get that particular centre and detoxify their products to be able to meet the quality specifications before selling them off. Is WTO interested in this and how much so. Are there programmes designed to be able to facilitate this”
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said WTO is aware of development and is also eager to assisting countries implement their respective protocols on the issue.
“At the WTO, we have been heavily promoting something we called re-globalization. We are trying to persuade supply chains of companies located outside Africa; we are trying to tell them that this also a good place. WTO is very much aware.
“Many of the rules are built based on our rules. So, we have an interest in keeping in touch and making sure any country that wants to request our help to implement their protocols and so on will be able to do that. And we hope it will take off in a good way. Now, one big thing we have to watch is, we cannot all trade the same thing to each other. We are growing primary products. We are not going to trade cocoa to Cote D’Ivoire. We can trade oil because most of them want oil but we don’t just want to trade that,” she said.
