AFCFTA charges committee to align export strategy to Africa’s needs, Delta to explore potentials in oil palm

Francis Anatogu, Secretary National Action Committee on  African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has charged the newly inaugurated Delta Technical Working Committee to align its state export strategy to Africa’s needs. Anatogu gave the charge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) in Asaba. He said that Delta had an existing export strategy, which would be beneficial to the vision of the programme. He said that the committee would help drive the implementation and sensitise the public on  the benefits of AFCFTA. Meanwhile Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Niyi Adebayo, says Delta  will explore the potentials in oil palm, aquaculture and other products in a larger African market. The minister represented by the Director of Trade in the ministry, Mr Aliyu Abubakar, stated this at a news conference in Asaba.

Anatogu said the state’s collaboration with Nexim Bank for export and its investment development initiative would be of benefit to other states if the experiences were shared. Anatogu said that harmonising regulations and policies for trade and services would also help achieve desired goals. He said it was imperative to develop products to exportable quality, scale up production level and develop value chain from commodities to finished product. “Export is relatively new to us; there are challenges and that is why AFCFTA initiative was put in place. It is about solving problems, we are taking it one after another,  is also a long term programme and we need to run it like a marathon,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Economic Adviser to Gov. Okowa,  Mr Kingsley Emu called for dedication and sensitisation on AFCFTA initiatives and objectives amongst the newly inaugurated committee. Emu said that AFCFTA was about industrialisation either in services, textiles and value addition, which the state would be  committed to. He says that every state had its own unique advantage and admonished the committee to seize the opportunity to showcase the state’s   potential to boost economic growth and job  creation. He therefore advised the working committee to ensure that the intervention was taken seriously and to grow the value chain that would bring Delta’s unique advantage and expertise to champion the course. Emu however advised that meeting of  specifications and quality should be adhered to in order to ensure that the Nigerian market would not be flooded with cheap items. Mrs Shimite Bello, a member of the committee assured of the committee’s commitment in delivering on the mandate of AFCFTA. 

The  Minister for Industry, Adebayo said Delta  will explore the potentials in oil palm, aquaculture and other products in a larger African market. The minister represented by the Director of Trade in the ministry, Mr Aliyu Abubakar, stated this at a news conference on Wednesday in Asaba. The minister, who led the National Action Committee (NAC) on the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) on a 2-Day tour of Delta, said Delta was the number six states visited to discuss the opportunities abound for made in Nigeria products in the larger African market. Adebayo said that the agreement provided platform to ensure that every product has origin, while assuring that Nigeria would not become a dumping ground for  unidentified products from other Africa countries. He said that the mechanism for settlement and dispute resolutions were also in place to ensure peace among African countries. According to the minister, other countries through the agreement have agreed to liberalise 90 per cent of the products to the market.