Private sector players in the country have called on the Nigerian government to work with the private sector to institutionalize the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, TFA, in order to enhance the ease of doing business in the country.

The organised private sector players drawn from various business associations in Nigeria reached the consensus at a two-day workshop on SMEs and the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Trade Facilitation Agreement  organized by the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, ITC. No representative of the government was present at the meeting.

According to the participants, for the country to witness import and export efficiency the time and cost of cross border trade must be reduced because 40 per cent of all border costs are made up of procedural inefficiencies which hampers trade.

Speaking on the essence of the workshop, Qasim Chaudry, consultant on trade facilitation, division of business and institutional support trade facilitation and policy business, said that “the TFA, agreement will help improve transparency, increase possibility to participate and improve the global value chain and reduce some form of corruption”.

“The workshop is a step to ensure that the opportunities generated by the agreement translate to realities on the ground. While the responsibility to implement the agreement lies with the policy makers, the private sector and the various associations have a key role to play in effective implementation. TFA will help to reduce the cost and time of doing business. This will involve doing away with the barriers to effective trade facilitation. There are a number of benefits on trade facilitation for our regional integration. To assist businesses to understand the terms, gains and practical use of the WTO trade facilitation agreement”.

Chaudry added that while the landscape of trade has evolved in the last few years the problem of red tape barriers to moving goods across borders is a major challenge to cross border trade facilitation which must be addressed.

“There’s an urgent need in Nigeria to improve the business environment and improve the competitiveness of the private sector to engage in International Trade. There’s a lot of room though for improvement for Nigeria in the international trade scene”, he said.

Even as Nigeria earlier this year became the 107th WTO member to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the country’s trade facilitation commitments are said to be shallow and it must continue to seek ways to overcoming the challenges of implementing the trade facilitation- which according to Kolawole Sofola, Principal programme officer, multilateral trade, Trade Directorate, ECOWAS Commission, is important so that goods can move seamlessly and freely across trading borders amongst ECOWAS member states.

“The Trade Facilitation Agreement promises greater trade efficiency by targeting administrative barriers to trade – unnecessary border inspections, excessive document and data requirements, manual processes, lack of coordination among border authorities and complex and inefficient rules and procedures. All of these issues delay the movement of goods and services and increase trade costs, which are often passed to consumers”, he said.

These costs Sofola added, affect SMEs the most as they often lack the means and capacity to comply with complex rules. “The high compliance costs with customs and border procedures and other non-tariff measures (NTMs) represent significant charges relative to their smaller volumes of trade. This makes them uncompetitive as suppliers and hampers their integration into regional and international value chains”.

“For businesses, especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), operationalizing the

Agreement on Trade Facilitation is a path to internationalization, which will allow them to access international value chains at lower cost and at greater speeds. And SMEs can most benefit from the Agreement by having a sound understanding of how the new procedures and requirements will complement their business priorities. Like other WTO agreements, the degree to which the intended benefits of the Trade Facilitation Agreement can be actually realized will depend upon how it is implemented in national law and practice. While implementation is the primary responsibility of the WTO members, businesses play a critical role in the consultative process to advice authorities as to how the Agreement is best applied in the national environment”, Sofola said.

Participants at the workshop were drawn from NECA, NACCIMA, MAN, NESG, ICC and a host of other private sector players.

Author: Theresa Igata

Photo: Enelamah, Trade and Investment minister