FG unveils taskforce on trade academy

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, has inaugurated the task force on the establishment of the Nigerian Foreign Trade Academy (NFTA).

He said the Academy would be a centre of excellence in order to train trade policy experts whose sole responsibility is to craft, monitor and negotiate trade rules in a contemporary world and promote the economic growth of the country.

Speaking while inaugurating members of the task force recently in Abuja, the minister said trade is highly beneficial to the poor and if properly harnessed can eradicate poverty as well as lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He urged members of the task force to work assiduously and ensure a synergy among the relevant agencies, considering the enormous benefit of trade in creating an enabling environment to attract foreign direct investments into the economy.

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, who is also the chairman of the task force said trade has been identified as the major tool that drives development in any society, adding that good enough, Nigeria is richly endowed with mineral resources.

He said other nations live on manufacturing, while the developed countries have developed and established their services sectors to become the driving force of their economy and foreign exchange earnings.

The chairman further said there is need to train and retrain the work force using modern techniques to make them professionals and authorities in the various aspects of trade discipline.