The Nigerian government has taken steps to reverse trade and negotiation failures, as well as coordination deficits in trade agreements signed with other nations.
Disclosing this during a visit to Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) in Abuja, Director General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe said some of these deficits date back to the First Republic.
Ambassador Osakwe stated that based on the fact that Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa and 26th in the world, there was the need for coherence and coordination on trade negotiations and agreements. According to him the organisation also coordinates, manages and leads all trade negotiations between Nigeria and other countries.
He said that it was in recognition of trade as engine of growth that the Buhari administration, on the 10th May 2017, approved the setting up of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations.
“The organisation is also mandated to, among other things, create a data base for Nigeria’s trade agreements and streamline the process of trade agreements between Nigeria and other countries. It is also mandated to establish a data base to register Nigerians’ ill-treatment abroad; develop a trade dispute settlement department to resolve issues and improve trade financing for medium and small scale enterprises.”
Responding Chairman of BMO Niyi Akinsiju commended NOTN for its vision and commitment to its mandates of rectifying negative trade practices between Nigeria and other countries; noting also that negative trade practices had contributed largely to economic stagnation in developing countries.
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