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Olusegun awolowo worried about neglect of ECOWAS free trade

By Murtala Muhammed
10 August 2016   |   2:13 am
Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo, has urged Nigerian exporters to maximise the economic potentials inherent in ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), to enhance economic growth in the country.
Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo

Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo

Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo, has urged Nigerian exporters to maximise the economic potentials inherent in ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), to enhance economic growth in the country.

Awolowo, who expressed concern over the dwindling oil revenue, worried over low impact of Nigerian business class in ECOWAS liberalised trade and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

The export promotion council boss, who spoke recently at capacity building workshop for exporters in Kano, revealed that survey conducted by the council on progress in Nigeria on some multilateral and bilateral trade agreements entered with some countries indicated poor impact, largely due to what he considered as lack of awareness of most of the pacts.

On the contrary, President of Trans Sahara Trade Development Association, Alh. Muntaka Isa, insisted that low participation of businessmen particularly in the Northern part of the country was not unconnected to cumbersome procedure and heavy taxes and duties imposed by Nigerian Customs services.

ECOWAS member countries introduced Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) to enjoy free movement of transport, goods and removal tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.

Represented by Northern Regional Coordinator, Alh. Abdullahi Kudu Mohammed, the executive director, who reminded that ETLS when fully embraced would elicit economic growth, creat employment opportunity and lower cost of manufacturing export goods.

According to Awolowo, “we are aware the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme provides the framework for the free movement of transport, goods and persons within ECOWAS, including the removal of tariff. Despite the implementation of ETLS is however uneven across West Africa.”

Mindful of some of the challenges in the documentation and other requirement of ETLS, he noted that the council was organising Nation- wide sensitisation to educate exporters and potential exporters on the workability of the process.

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