Economy
Buhari Vows to Halt Job Exports Through Local Production
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday, that his administration would not allow Nigeria return to the days of exporting jobs through the importation of food and clothing items which can be produced locally.
The President noted that the textile and garmenting sector had the potential to create millions of jobs and would remain one of the priority sectors for the administration.
Buhari said this during an audience with the National Executive Council of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers (NTGTW) led by its President, Comrade John Adaji, at the State House, Abuja.
He assured that his administration would continue to support policies and programmes in the years ahead, adding, “We owe this to the over 200 million Nigerians.
”Referring to his recent directive to all Government uniformed institutions to use locally produced garments, President Buhari said unbelievable number of jobs will be created when the military, police, para-military organisations including the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), fully patronise local industries.
He said that the priority of his administration “is to create as many jobs as possible.”
The President said that in the last four years, the Federal Government deployed limited resources to job-creating sectors like agriculture and mining.
Lamenting the closure of textile factories especially in the North which gave rise to crimes, he said, “we promoted policies that will support local industries such as import restrictions. We introduced programmes that provided affordable and accessible capital to both large and cottage industries.”
He added that, “We also introduced Executive Orders that encouraged the procurement of Made in Nigeria goods and services.”
The President urged State Governments to buy into this policy for their schools, hospitals and other institutions.
On the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which Nigeria recently signed, Buhari said, “we have developed a comprehensive strategy to fully optimise the benefits” with necessary safeguards in place. He stressed that “Our priority remains to create jobs in Africa for Africans using a large proportion of African raw materials.”
Speaking on behalf of the Union, the General Secretary, Comrade Issa Aremu, commended President Buhari for being the first Nigerian leader to grant the 41-year-old body an audience, and making the revival of the textile industry a campaign topic.
Bemoaning the closure of hundreds of textile factories which used to employ “millions of workers more than the workforce of the Federal Government in the 70s and 80s,” he also saluted the textile-friendly policies of the administration such as the interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Executive Order on the use of local garments by uniformed organisations among others.
Pledging to support the administration to “keep our youths out of the streets,” the Union urged that the incidence of smuggling be checked in order to maximise the job-creating benefits of the textile industry.
President Buhari was decorated as the Life Patron of the Union in appreciation of his textile-friendly efforts.
Aremu said that revamping the textiles industry in the country would addressed largely the current security challenges in the country.
He attributed lack of employment opportunities for the youth as major factor responsible for increasing security threats in the country.
African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says Africa has the necessary partnerships and technologies to eradicate hunger.
In a statement issued on the banks website, Adesina said what Africa needed was action, including robust financing to achieve this.
He spoke during the opening session of the 8th Africa Agribusiness and Science Week (AASW), in Durban, South Africa, on Monday.
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), organised the event in collaboration with the South African government, the African Union Commission (AUC), AfDB and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Other partners included the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), as well as the European Commission.
Adesina said: “We must pull together the best of science, technology, and innovations to drive a more productive, efficient, and more competitive agricultural system.”
According to him, Africa’s food systems have the potential to unleash 1 trillion dollars in value, over the next seven years.
“For that to be achieved, we must strengthen and support the CGIAR with a lot more resources, ensure that it works in and delivers for Africa based on our priorities.
“And support regional research and development institutions, such as FARA, and the sub-regional agricultural research organisations,” he said.
He said one of the bank’s initiatives targeted at boosting African food security was the Feed Africa Summit, held in January in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
According to him, this brought together 34 heads of states and governments.
“Working with development partners from around the world and the AUC, the private sector companies, and global and national agricultural research centers, we developed Food and Agricultural Delivery Compacts for 41 countries.
“The summit partners have built on its success, mobilising 72 billion dollars so far, to support the national compacts.”
Adesina thereafter, presented the 2023 FARA Leadership Prizes for Advancing Agricultural Science, Technology, and Innovation in Africa to some personalities.
“They include, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organisation; AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Amb. Josefa Sacko and FARA’s Executive Director Dr Yemi Akinbamijo.
“Others are Senegal’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Infrastructure, Papa Abdoulaye Seck, and Afreximbank President, Prof. Benedict Oramah.”
The AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, said the event could not have come at a better time.
Sacko said this was because the world was in the midst of a hunger pandemic caused by cascading factors, including COVID-19 and Climate Change.
She said: “Africa needs to leverage on its potential, including science, and be proactive rather than reactive to shocks.
‘“Let us continue to take advantage of the continent’s youthful population and immense natural capital.
“And let us unlock the potential we have. We should feed Africans and we should feed the world,” Sacko added.
The FARA Chairperson Alioune Fall, spoke about the interlocking relationship between climate change and agricultural production.
“Climate change and its effect on the continent require new ways of doing things in almost all facets of our society.
“Africa’s young farmers will not adopt nature-based approaches unless they are well packaged, affordable and technology-serviced, Fall said” Adesina won the award in 2016.
The 8th AASW, is the main continental platform for stakeholders of agriculture and agribusiness research and innovation in Africa.
It brings together 1,500 stakeholders every three years, to take stock of progress on research and innovation, share information, create business alliances, and map out priorities for joint action.
The 7the AASW was held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2016. (NAN)
The Federal Government has stated its committed to further strengthen its trade and economic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and investment, Dr Evelyn Ngige said this when Mr Zhang Guanbin, Deputy Director-General, Department of Trade, Ministry of Commerce, People’s Republic of China visited her in Abuja.
She emphasised that boosting the trade ties would improve trade volume between Nigeria and China which stood at over 12.
03 billion US dollars in 2021.Ngige noted the ministry’s pivotal role in Nigeria’s economic development, through the promotion of the non- oil sector which has strengthened economic diversification, domestic and international relations and a significant bilateral trade between Nigeria and China, as well.
Earlier, the Deputy Director-General, Department of Trade, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and leader of the delegation, Mr Zhang Guanbin commended the Federal Government for the trade cooperation between the two countries.
He said that a working group between Nigeria and China would help achieve greater results.
According to him, Chinese investors in Nigeria believe in Nigeria’s business environment and seek to enlarge their business investment in the country.
He said that China is working on the implementation of agreements reached by the leaders of the two countries.
Guanbin extended an invitation to Nigerian Government for participation at the International Co-operation Forum in China scheduled to hold in October 2023.
On his part, the Director of Trade in the Ministry, Mr Suleiman Audu said that the ministry had put in place processes of re-invigorating the working group in trade. (NAN)
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Nigeria recorded N927.16 billion trade surplus between January and March, 2023.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which stated this in its report on foreign trade for the first quarter of 2023, also disclosed that Nigeria’s total exports stood at N6.
49 trillion, and imports at N5. 56 trillion.The NBS report shows that in the quarter under review, the nation’s total trade stood at N12.
05 trillion. This is higher than the value (N7.86 trillion) recorded in the corresponding period (Q1) of 2021.It is also more than the figure recorded in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 when Nigeria’s trade stood at N11.
72 trillion.“Total exports increased in the first quarter by 2 percent but declined by 8.66 percent when compared to the amount recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N6, 359.61 billion) and the corresponding quarter in 2022 (N7, 102.11 billion) respectively,” the report reads.
“In the same vein, total imports increased by 3.67 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N5,362.83 billion) but then again declined by 25.83 percent when compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (N7,495.67 billion).”
Further examination of the report shows that the majority of imported goods in Q1 2022 originated from China, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, and the United States of America.
NBS said the value of imports from the aforementioned countries amounted to N3.1 trillion, representing a share of 55.78 percent of the total value of imports.
The bureau said the commodities with the largest values of imported products were “motor spirit ordinary, gas oil, and durum wheat”.
Meanwhile, goods worth about N837.65 billion (the most) were exported to the Netherlands.
Other countries where goods were exported to are the United States of America (N579.35 billion), Spain (N488.17 billion), France (N487.34 billion), and India (N456.69 billion).
A trade surplus is an economic indicator of a positive trade balance in which a nation’s exports outweigh its imports.
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