Amidst Economic uncertainties Nigeria is set to inaugurate the National Trade Intelligence Unit to catalyze economic growth.
By Ananyochukwu Agbo
The Federal Government is set to launch a new initiative, the National Trade Intelligence Unit, to shore up the economy through technology and innovation. Likewise, through a series of fruitful engagements, $30bn foreign direct investment commitments have been made by investors.This was revealed on Friday, February16, by Doris Uzoka-Anite, minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information and Abuja.
“With respect to Trade as a tool to stimulate economic growth, the FMITI is set to launch the National Trade Intelligence Unit in collaboration with other MDAs such as the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, the Nigerian Customs Services, Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The Trade Intelligence Unit will be the National Coordinator and focal point for all trade related data and information in Nigeria. This office is set to leverage world class technology such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Big-Data to provide Nigeria with the ability to predict global market trends that will enhance our local and global trading capacities thereby significantly enhancing trade and the ease of doing business in Nigeria, in line with Mr President’s 8 Point Agenda.
“By harnessing the power of big data and artificial intelligence, the Centre will use accumulated information to predict local and global economic trends. This will equip Nigerian traders with invaluable insights to navigate potential global economic shocks and provide strategic guidance to enhance our economic growth.”
This is expected to enhance the competitiveness of Nigerian businesses within the global trading scheme. It will identify emerging market trends and opportunities, analyze trade flows, and highlight sectors and products with high demand in global markets. “This will enable Nigerian traders to concentrate on those areas where Nigeria has a comparative advantage, leading to the rapid economic growth,” explained Uzoka-Anite.
“Our aspiration for the Trade Intelligence Unit is to create a fully automated Centre of Excellence. This centre will employ top-tier talent and collaborate with world-class institutions for the purpose of gathering and analyzing trade intelligence. By deploying cutting-edge algorithms and tracking technology, it will monitor cargoes, containers, and vehicles swiftly, without disrupting the flow of legitimate trade. This will provide Nigeria with unparalleled, reliable import and export information and data, essential for effective planning and ease of doing business.”
And despite the widespread apprehension and economic uncertainties, the Minister revealed increasing interests in the Nigerian economy by foreign investors. A total of $30bn FDI commitments have been received. Out of this, $14 billion commitment came from India during the last G20 conference. “Since then, we have seen the Confederation of Indian Industries visiting Nigeria to further explore identified investment opportunities. These engagements with India, Germany, Netherlands, UAE, South Africa, and others have opened up avenues for investment and the establishment of joint regulatory protocols,” said the Minister. In addition, another $10bn commitment has been made in the oil and gas sector.
According to the Minister, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment has also re-launched the Nigerian Trade Policy 2023-2027, to further stimulate the domestic economy by connecting Nigerian SMEs to the global value chain thereby ensuring that Nigerian businesses have the capacity to be globally competitive.
“In furtherance of ensuring this global competitiveness, we are currently negotiating our accession into the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) Agreement – which is posited to be the largest free trade area in the world, with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion and access to a market of over 1.3 billion people spread across 54 member states of the African Union. At the 13th AFCFTA Trade Ministers’ meeting Nigeria actively negotiated her unique position on several crucial matters bordering on digital trade, safeguarding against illegal transshipment under the AFCFTA and tariff lines in specific sectors of the Nigerian economy.”
The successful implementation of the AFCFTA is expected to lead to diversification of exports, improved market access, enhanced trade opportunities and increased foreign direct investment.
The Presidential Council is implementing several initiatives to reform the commodity trading landscape and also NCX’s operations and performance. “These reforms will create a future where the hard work of farmers and miners translates into equitable opportunities in national and international markets, contribute to minimizing food inflation, enhance solid mineral and agricultural production and exports, boost private sector investment in the agricultural value chain, and foster economic empowerment among small hold farmers and miners,” said Uzoka-Anite.
These initiatives are upgrading and revitalizing its operations, facilities, and critical infrastructure, such as silos storage system, testing, and grading facilities, establishing a cutting-edge trading platform and warehouse management system and undertaking extensive and robust outreach program, to onboard and continuously engage farmers and miners.
Job Creation
On job creation, she said the government had created one million jobs and would have created four million jobs at the end of four years. She points at a deliberate strategy.
“We are creating a National Job Centre to match available vacancies in industries and businesses with available talent pool. The job centre will also train and equip people to be job ready. One such initiative is the Skill-UP Artisans program (SUPA) led by our parastatal the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). The program will empower artisans with tech-enabled skills training, licensing, access to essential toolkits, and promoting industry-standard excellence. SUPA addresses the skills deficiency among artisans and standardizes artisanal practice. The program ensures the availability of a skilled workforce for domestic industries, thereby reducing labour import dependency.
“Over a two-year period, the program aims to empower 10 million hard-working Nigerians, and reflects the government’s commitment to promoting economic development and improving citizens’ standard of living, and job creation.”
Furthermore, government launched the NATEP – to create 1m jobs including talent exchange/export, business process outsourcing and job outsourcing. The Minister says, “We are engaging and signing MOUs with world class organizations and governments on this.”
In cooperation with the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Trade and investment is set to revamp and relaunch the Diaspora investment initiative to attract diaspora funds into investment platforms and vehicles developed.
“Recently, we signed an MOU on Enhanced Trade in Partnership (ETIP) with the United Kingdom, where we have extensively discussed the issue of joint regulatory protocols. This has culminated in the signing of the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement. This agreement facilitates smoother trade processes, allowing Nigerian businesses to export more goods to the UK. It also provides capacity building and sensitization for Nigerian exporters on how to benefit from the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which enables Nigerian exporters to export up to 3000 different agricultural products to the UK with beneficial terms.
“The partnership also encourages UK investors to explore Nigeria’s most promising sectors, working towards increasing reciprocal Foreign Direct Investment. This cooperation aims to spur economic growth through investments in infrastructure, technology, and manufacturing. Furthermore, the Regulatory Cooperation on Technical Barrier to Trade (TBT) makes it easier for Nigeria to trade goods with the UK by preventing, identifying, and eliminating unnecessary technical barriers. This cooperation promotes good regulatory practices and identifies trade facilitation initiatives leading to the convergence of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures with relevant international standards.
“These engagements and agreements are a testament to our commitment to fostering international relations that benefit Nigerian trade and investment. They represent a significant step towards our goal of economic diversification and sustainable growth.
“The prevailing challenges of Infrastructure deficits, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and regulatory complexities remain hurdles to overcome. Additionally, external factors such as fluctuating commodity prices and global economic uncertainties pose risks to our economic stability. Yet, we are undeterred in our resolve to address these challenges head-on, seeking innovative solutions and fostering collaboration across sectors.”
General optimism about the Nigerian Market
The Minister said she recently visited manufacturers to know where they are hurting. “Following the successful factory tour , there is general optimism about the Nigerian Market: the manufacturers all forecast continued growth of their businesses and have made investment plans to support this growth. They believe that the demand in the Nigerian market presents strong growth potential for business, and Nigeria has the potential to become the production hub for West African Region. For example:
- Nigerian Bottling Company has invested $1.3bn over the last ten years and plans to invest another $1bn over the next five years.
- Unilever said “We are Here for Good”. They are also launching new product categories this year.
- Seven Up Bottling Company plans to invest in logistics and recycling for their business.
- The Sugar Refineries (Dangote Sugar Refinery, BUA Foods and Golden Sugar Ltd) recommitted to the implementation of their Backward Integration Programs
“Towards development of Industrialization, we have issued import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) letters of recommendation to 20 manufacturers to boost expansion and production capacity. Additionally, we are implementing growth programs through the Backward Integration Program (BIP) for the following products – raw sugar, palm oil, automobile assembly, battery assembly, cassava starch & tomato concentrate and others.”
