FG Targets Increased Trade Volume with NTFC

Gilbert Ekugbe

The federal government through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, has announced plans to revitalise the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) in its bid to increase Nigeria’s trade volume.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Doris Uzoka-Anite, explained that the Committee would comprise of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) alongside Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) and the private sector.

She stated this at the launch of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) assisted Time Release Study (TRS) scoping mission for Nigeria in Lagos.

According to her, effective trade facilitation requires efficient coordination across the entire supply chain, maintaining that the country currently has 12 Domestic Export Warehouses (DEWs) and one aggregation centre established to reduce the time it takes to ship their goods for export.

She added that the TRS and the DEWS are all fantastic initiatives geared towards enhancing trade and easing the process of doing business in Nigeria.

“I am absolutely confident that it will be a great success and would help Nigeria to achieve true sustained economic growth in the coming years. However, I am inspired to do more to facilitate trade and this in turn would increase Nigeria’s trade volume,” she said.

“Also speaking, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, said the TRS would come with great benefits to the nation as it would bring about value for money, competitiveness of Nigerian exports that would transcend to the growth of the economy.

Edun who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Lydia Jafiya, said the launch is a significant milestone in the nation’s commitment to enhancing trade facilitation with TRS.

On his part, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, said the WCO remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing customs procedures through various instruments and tools, such as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), saying that among these initiatives is the TRS was developed to provide comprehensive insights into customs operations’ efficiency.