BusinessDay 23 Mar 2018

Friday 23 March 2018
Survey reveals how illegal fees, multiple checkpoints
frustrate trade along Abijan-Lagos corridor
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
A
survey conducted
by Task
Force on ECO-
WAS Trade
Liberalisation
Scheme has identified collection
of illegal fees by
government agencies, existence
of multiple government
agencies and checkpoints
as major factors
inhibiting smooth trade
across borders.
According to the survey,
the slowness of the
procedure for getting the
Standards Organisation of
Nigeria (SON) and the National
Food and Drug Administration
and Control
(NAFDAC) certifications,
existence of prohibition
list that contains some
ETLS approved products
as well as the existence
of several standards with
NAFDAC and SON, also
frustrate across border
trade along the corridor.
The survey, presented
in Lagos on Wednesday
Edo partners NCC on job creation, broadband penetration
Edo State governor,
Godwin Obaseki,
says his administration
is ready to partner
the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC)
on job creation for youths
in the state. Obaseki said
this during a courtesy visit
to the NCC headquarters in
the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT), Abuja.
The governor said, “My
administration is also seeking
collaboration with the
NCC to boost broadband
penetration in Edo State.
We are expanding areas we
can deploy Information and
Communication Technology
(ICT) to improve broadband
penetration in the state.”
He explained that his administration
was ready to
work with the NCC and other
stakeholders in the telecoms
industry to support service
providers and other inves-
tors in the state, noting, “This
collaboration will assist service
providers in Edo State to
extend their services to the
remotest towns and communities.”
The governor said, “The
key driver of our vision to
transform Edo State is to deploy
ICT infrastructure and
knowledge to enhance economic
growth and prosperity
for Edo people. My administration
is focused on the use
of technology and provision
of telecoms infrastructure to
create jobs for youths.
“Part of the vision is to
engage youths in productive
ventures and provide employment
opportunities for
them. We are also exploring
ways to deploy the use of ICT
to engage youths. Our aim
is to discourage youths from
engaging in human and drug
trafficking.”
According to Obaseki, the
by Moustapha Gnankambary,
permanent secretary
of the ETLS Task Force at
a day sensitisation workshop
organised by the Nigerian
Shippers’ Council
(NCS) in collaboration
with the Borderless Alliance,
said the limitations
reduce the ability of the
national economies of the
member countries to attract
investment, create
jobs and wealth and improve
the standard of the
living of the people.
Gnankambary, who
pointed to the fact that the
factors have caused the
intra-regional trade to remain
poor at between 10
and 20 percent, also said
governments of member
states also lose huge revenue
to low trade growth.
He disclosed that the
survey had recommended
the need for educating
security agencies on the
clear demarcation between
trade facilitation
and free movement as well
as the security of persons
and goods along the corridor.
“There is need for the
adoption and application
of clear sanction mechanisms
against member
states and defaulting officers.
There is also need for
the removal of obstacles
such as import bans as
well as tariff and non-tariff
barriers to cross border
trade,” the survey noted.
Gnankambary said
there was need to promote
the consumption of products
and services produced
in West African countries
to boost job creation and
further help to promote regional
integration.
“We need to harmonise
the documentation used
in intra-regional trade in
three ECOWAS official languages.
Apart from abolishing
the abnormal practices
and obstacles to cross
border trade along the corridor,
there was also need
to accelerate the issuance
of the ECOWAS biometric
identity cards by member
states,” he said.
Justin Bayili, executive
state government will work
with the NCC to address the
challenges faced by the telecoms
industry in the state
and assured, “My administration
will work with the NCC
to resolve several issues confronting
stakeholders in the
state, which include; the right
of way for telecommunication
infrastructure, multiple taxation
and regulation.”
The state government will
work with telecoms operators
in the state to resolve conflicts
with members of local communities
to allow operators
access to infrastructure within
safety and other regulations.
Executive commissioner,
stakeholder management,
NCC, Sunday Dare, who represented
the executive vice
chairman, NCC, Umar Garba
Danbatta, assured Obaseki of
the commitment of the commission
to partnering the Edo
State government.
secretary of Borderless
Alliance, who said Nigeria
must remove all nontariff
barriers that frustrate
smooth trade across borders,
if the country must
move from being an oil dependent
country to opening
up other sectors of the
economy, added that more
investments would be attracted
and jobs as well as
wealth created.
Reacting to this, Taju
Olanrewaju, chairman of
the event, suggested the
need for another engagement
that would bring
agencies like SON and
NAFDAC as well as the
Nigerian Customs Service
(NCS) to come and tell the
trading community of the
efforts put in place to address
the issues highlighted
around their operations
that hinder smooth trade
across borders.
He pointed out the urgent
need for SON and
NAFDAC to reduce the
cumbersome procedures
that slows the collection of
their certifications.
L-R: Bolanle
Austen Peters,
CEO, Terra Kulture/
keynote speaker;
Ade Adefeko, vice
president, corporate
and government
relations, Olam
Nigeria; Tunji
Olugbodi, executive
vice chairman,
Verdant Zeal
Group; Ibilola
Amao, principal
consultant, Lonadek/
chairperson 7th
Innovention Series,
and Femi Oyewole,
chairman, Verdant
Zeal Board, at the
7th Verdant Zeal
Innovention Series
with the theme “
Building Africa’s
Reputation Through
Mediatainment” in
Lagos, yesterday.
Pic by Olawale
Amoo
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
5
NEWS
Religious leaders preach
peace, endorse Ambode
German agency trains 97,449 cocoa farmers in Nigeria
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin
German International
Cooperation (GIZ)
says it has so far
trained 97,449 smallholders
cocoa farmers across
the six focal states in Nigeria.
Annemarie Mathess, regional
programme director,
Sustainable Smallholder
Agri-business Programme,
disclosed this at the sixth anniversary
and flag off of 2018
farming season by Edo State
Forum of Farmer Business
School Multipurpose Cooperative
Union Limited in Benin
City, the Edo State capital.
Mathess, represented by
Ayo Akinola, senior technical
advisor of GIZ-SSAB, said
out of the total 9,630 farmers
were from Edo State.
Mathess, who says the GIZ
operates in more than 130
countries in the world, noted
that it annual turnover was
JOSHUA BASSEY
Leaders of various
religious bodies
under the aegis of
Nigeria Inter-Religious
Council (NIREC)
have stressed the need to
deepen religious harmony,
as they endorsed Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode for
second term in office.
This comes as Abul-
Hakeem Abdul-Lateef, the
state commissioner for
home affairs, charged the
religious leaders to use the
pulpits to preach love and
encourage their followers
to support’s policy and
programmes aimed at improving
the welfare of all,
as “Ambode means well for
Lagos.”
The clerics spoke at the
first quarterly meeting of
religious leaders and faithbased
organisations, yesterday
in Lagos, to further
entrench religious harmony
and strengthen the existing
peace in the state. The NIREC
is comprised of Christian and
Islamic bodies.
Speaking at the meeting,
Tajudeen Yusuf, chairman
of NIREC, Lagos chapter,
said the endorsement
was in recognition of the
modest efforts of Ambode
in infrastructural development
and the maintenance
of peace and religious harmony
in Lagos.
According to Yusuf,
Ambode’s approval of the
existence of NIREC, not
only at state level, but also
across the 20 local governments,
and 37 local council
development areas of the
state, has ensured that issues
capable of triggering
religious crisis in Lagos are
nib in the bud.
The religious leader,
who observed that the
€2.1 billion, in development
programmes raging from
agriculture, economic development,
renewable energy,
social, health, finance, water,
environment, among others.
She said the sustainable
smallholder agro-business
(SSAB) programme was one
of the programmes conducted
in partnership with the Agricultural
Development Programmes
(ADPs) for cocoa
farmers across six producing
states of Abia, Cross River,
Edo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun.
She also added that in enhancing
the capacity of and
livelihoods of smallholder
cocoa farmers, SSAB deployed
the Farmer Business
School (FBS), Good Agricultural
Practices (GAP) and
the Cooperative Business
Schools (CBS) as its three
core training tools.
Mathess, however, appealed
to the Edo State gov-
Boko Haram’s crisis and its
attendant loss of lives and
properties in the northern
part of the country could
have been avoided had
NIREC at the national lived
up to expectation, said
peace and religious harmony
was necessary to advancement
development at
any level, and assured that
religious bodies would rally
around Ambode to actualise
his second term ambition,
adding “one good
term deserves another.”
Also, Alexander Bamgbola,
co-chairman of
NIREC, Lagos chapter,
who doubles as chairman,
Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN), said, “Lagos is
a state that enjoys the special
grace of God.” The CAN
chairman who described
Ambode as a listening governor,
called for the support
of the citizens for the
government to enable it do
more, especially infrastructure
development.
Abdul-Lateef, the
commissioner for home
affairs, whose office supervises
the activities of
religious bodies in the
state, said the meeting
was a platform to making
the two major religions
see themselves as one.
According to the Abdul-
Lateef, while NIREC at the
national level has been
unable to function effectively,
Lagos has continued
to show example of how
Christians, Moslems and
other beliefs should co-exist.
The commissioner, who
thanked the religious leaders
for endorsing Ambode
for second term in office,
assured that the state government
would continue to
all within its powers to ensured
that Lagos continue
to stand out.
ernment to fund agricultural
development programmes
as well as the state forum of
farmer business school multipurpose
cooperative Union
limited to scale-up and expand
their services, resulting
in competitive production,
growth and employment.
While opining that such
impacts can also contribute
to reduce migration, she
stated that government’s
assistance in funding and
supporting farmers’ organisation’s
can sustain their
potentialities for growth and
development.
The regional programme
director of the organization,
who commended the Edo
State government for the
strides so far taken in the
agricultural sector, observed
that the farmers business
school can be the government’s
strong partner in internal
revenue generation.