Nigeria made products bill underway

January 30, 2012 65 Views Comment Off

: Olusegun Aganga

Federal government is putting finishing touches on a bill that will enforce the patronage of made in Nigeria products. The bill will enforce compliance to the policy.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga who stated this during a courtesy call of officials of the National Association of Nigerian Traders, NANTS in Abuja said that government would ensure that priority is given to home made products.

He assured that domestic trade promotion would form the core of a new trade strategy being put together by the ministry. Aganga said that the proposed bill on made in Nigeria goods will focus on patronage of products that Nigeria has the capacity to produce which would boost efforts at promoting the revitalisation of the automobile, textile and plastics industries when passed into law.

He also explained that any waiver to be granted by the federal government would henceforth be sector-specific as part of the transformational agenda of government.

Aganga used the opportunity of the meeting to invite the association to join hands with him to turn the sector around.
In his response, MR Ken Ukaoha President of NANTS commended efforts of the federal government in repositioning the trade and investment sector stressing the need for the ministry to establish itself as the national hub for government’s economic transformation agenda.

Ukaoha stressed the importance of trade in national development noting that Nigeria’s second income earner, import duties, rides on the platform of trade and distributions. He then charged the ministry to accord trade and investments in the national development scheme.

He observed that NANTS, which currently houses the national technical committee secretariat for Nigeria’s negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), was concluding a detailed listing and analysis on all trade agreements entered into by Nigeria, including those still under consideration, as its contribution to Nigeria’s trade policy review exercise.

He enjoined the government to collaborate with the body to facilitate the enactment of a competition law in Nigeria; and review all existing trade agreements and to sustain such reviews periodically; establish a database/central library in the ministry as a source of trade related capacity building for staff.