Nigeria’s informal trade in West Africa hits $41bn

Nigeria’s informal trades in West Africa have been estimated to be about $41bn, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has disclosed.

CEO of the council, Mr. Segun Awolowo, who stated this, noted that Nigeria remains the single largest market across Africa.

Awolowo spoke in Lagos at the meeting on promoting Nigeria’s Non-oil export facilitated by Free On Board (FOB) Global Logistics Limited with technical partners from UK, Europe, UAE, India, Kuwait, US and China held at the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) plc, headquarters.

According to him, the takeoff of African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) in January 2021 would yield more dividends for Nigeria in the area of exports.

He said: “We are the elephant in ECOWAS. Even though informal, the goods going into West Africa and hinterland Africa, the International Trade Centre (ITC) tells us that, that trade alone is worth $41bn. At the Export Promotion Council, we are pursuing our zero oil plan.”

He said the Council had identified 22 products for export to the world saying this would propel the nation’s diversification away from oil and achieve its “zero oil plan”.

Managing Director of Free on Board Global Logistics Company, Mr Oluwajimi Adebakin said: “We are creating warehouses in all major cities of the world. We have 170 technical partners in 170 countries and warehouses in 3,700 cities of the world.”