We promote Exports

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development will be successful only if it is owned by the African peoples united in their diversity.  [NEPAD]

Welcome Address Delivered at the ECOBANK/MANEG Regional Trade Forum at the ECOWAS Secretariat, Abuja, Nigeria.

All protocols observed.

It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Trade Forum.  I specially welcome our brothers and sisters from outside Nigeria.  I am sure you are all finding the Abuja environment refreshingly different. This Trade Forum is being held in Abuja in order to give our brothers and sisters from outside Nigeria a view of Abuja and an opportunity for us all to interact, network and do business with each other. 

This Forum is the second in the series.  The first one was held in Accra, Ghana on May 6, 2004. Our ECOBANK Ghana affiliate hosted the forum between Nigeria and Ghana businessmen, companies and policy makers.  A review of the communiqué revealed that it was a very successful forum.  We in Nigeria are happy to be hosting this forum for the second time.

This forum is being organized in collaboration with the MAN Export Promotion Group with the objective of promoting trade across the West African Region. This initiative from the ECOBANK Group is our contribution to mobilize the stakeholders to develop an interactive approach to promoting trade in the sub-region. Practical sessions would highlight areas of advantage, opportunities and the major impediments and hindrances to trade flows. 

The theme for this year’s forum is Fostering Regional Integration: Sharing Experiences to Enhance Sustainable Trade Development.  The theme for this forum and the forum itself are very relevant at this point in time.  This is because many stakeholders in West Africa have reached a consensus time and time again that the way forward to our growth and development is through regional trade and integration. We, at ECOBANK have embraced this initiative as a core objective of the Group.  We have been able to develop the platform to facilitate trade and investment in West Africa.  Being the largest institution in the West and Central Africa, we have better understanding of the economy in these countries and also contribute to the growth and development in all the countries where we operate.

In Nigeria, the hosting country of this forum, we have been able to develop the required structure to facilitate oil and gas transactions across the sub-region with some transactions involving trade flows between several countries.  We also have strong presence in the aluminium and packaging businesses across the West African Countries.  We are also involved in trade facilitation in the following other sectors:

• Pharmaceuticals

• Food and beverages

• Textiles

• Chemical and paints etc.

To conclude, it is my hope that this forum will conclude with a communiqué with specific deliverables with a commitment from all stakeholders.  We recall that some of the issues raised in communiqué from the Ghana-Nigeria Trade Forum still remain relevant today.  Some are

1.      The Nigerian government should review its recent ban on the importation of certain items to ensure that it conforms to the provisions of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme. This will ensure that goods produced in Ghana have access to the Nigeria market. This is especially the case for products such as textiles, cassava starch, cutlasses, and plastics among others. Very strong representations were made by exporters of these products who have duly obtained their ECOWAS product accreditation but yet have been prevented from accessing the Nigerian market. Goods produced in Nigeria are however accorded all the relevant concessions under the ECOWAS Protocols.

2.      Customs, Immigration and Police and other border officials from both Ghana and Nigeria should regularly be educated to ensure that there is a significant reduction in the incidence of molestation and frustration of economic operators at the numerous border points.

3.      The Government of Ghana is specifically requested to take urgent steps to ratify the Inter State Transport Protocol which will greatly facilitate the movement of commercial vehicles within the sub region.

4.      The Nigerian government was specifically requested to reconsider the practice under which exporters are required to obtain an Exemption Letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja in addition to the ETLS registration before products can qualify for zero tariffs as per the ECOWAS Trade Protocol. Obtaining this letter also takes several months thus severely restricting the volume of business between the two countries.

5.      The Regulatory authorities in Nigeria are being requested to streamline the process of registering products imported from Ghana. This is especially in the case of pharmaceutical products. A specific recommendation was made that products that are registered by the Food and Drugs Board in Ghana should be automatically registered by the NAFDAC in Nigeria and vice versa.

6.      It was also recommended that Bilateral Chambers of Commerce be established between the two countries to further promote trade.

7.      The Port authorities in Nigeria should take steps to reduce the length of time it takes to clear goods from the port. The long waiting period at the port is having an adverse effect on trade.

At the end of this Forum, we expect that all the participants would have been able to network among themselves and also proffer solutions to the various challenges experienced by stakeholders in trade transactions across the sub-region.

We specially welcome our brothers who have come all the way from Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Liberia.  We are happy to have the Honourable Minister of Commerce in our midst, Ambassador Idris Waziri as our special guest of honour.  We thank you for honouring our invitation.  The Chairman of this Forum is Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, CON (Tafida Adamawa).  I understand that he had to specially attend this forum from South Africa.  Alhaji, we thank you for being part of this program.  This program was specifically being held in the premises of ECOWAS because it is a West African affair.  We that the ECOWAS Management for hosting us free of charge in this ultra modern conference centre.  To my colleagues in ECOBANK, this forum gives us another opportunity to further re-confirm our position as a regional banking institution uniquely to positioned to handle the regional transactions in West and Central Africa.  We hope we will all benefit from this program.

The Gentlemen of the press, we cannot do without your support at all times.  Most of you have been with us in Abuja since yesterday night when we had our investors’ forum.  We are happy to have you in our midst again this morning.  We believe you will give the forum the necessary coverage.

Once again I welcome you all to this event.

Funke Osibodu (Mrs.)

MD/CEO

ECOBANK NIGERIA PLC.