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ECOWAS: FG calls for collaborative support to promote trade relations

By Giwa SHILE

Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Ibrahim,  has called for collaborative support from donor agencies to finance cross-border cooperative initiatives, to  promote trade relations in ECOWAS sub-region.

Ibrahim made the call at the conference on Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday in Abuja.

She said that the call had become imperative because of the importance Nigeria attached to the initiative.

Ibrahim said “I wish to appeal to development partners and donor agencies, particularly those based in Nigeria where there is no major sponsor for the programme yet, to support this noble cause.

“This can be done through provision of logistics, as well as financing the institutional structures for the implementation of the projects on the Nigeria side.

“I want to assure you that this Cross-Border Trade Corridor Development programme enjoys full support of Nigeria government.”

The Minister commended Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Kano State Governments’ effort to ensure the programme was sustained through provision of essential logistics.

She identified such logistics to include office accommodation, vehicle and office equipment.

She implored such states to maintain the momentum and urged those yet to commit to the course to hasten up, to reap from the multiplier effect of the programme initiative.

She revealed that two trade corridors had evolved along border of Nigeria-Niger as a result of the success being recorded in the implementation of the pilot programme.

Amb. Rabiu Akamo, Secretary-General of the Nigeria-Nigeria Joint Commission for Cooperation, commended the event to be designed to encourage collaborative support to achieve the desired goal.

He mentioned that the donor agencies and development partners usually worked closely with each other to look at the list of challenges affecting the border between Nigeria and Niger.

According to him, challenges in area of infrastructure, food security and economy, to tackle border challenges, but the modus operandi is such that its operation amounts to a lot of money.

Akamo said “this is the reason we are inviting them to come to the side of Nigeria; if they do it half way, it will not benefit everybody.

“If not, there will be migration from to the greener area, but to make it more complete and meaningful, we are pleading with them to look into Nigeria.

“Nigeria/Niger has border line of 1500km and we are ensuring that everybody in the sub-region is happy with the way things are going, in terms of trade investment and food security.

The Deputy Governor of Jigawa, Mr Ibrahim Hadejia, said that the call for support was apt because project required significant infrastructure development.

He said that the need for collaborative finance of the project in Nigeria was paramount because of the nation’s population size and also bilateral trade influence on the continent.

According to him, “we cannot simply rely on report by the World Bank, donors and what have you, this kind of support comes with stringent conditions.

“It is these conditions that are actually being followed to ensure the full implementation of the infrastructure project; we are talking about building roads, airport terminals, warehouses and so on.

“For us, the fastest way is to get the businessmen that are supposed to benefit from it to be involved in the implementation.

“If they are some of them that want to invest in the development of the project allow them and work out ways for them to recover their investment”.

The representative of Kebbi State, Mrs Rakiya Ayuba, said although the state was included in the Nigeria-Niger cross-border corridor, more would be done to achieve target.

She said that the government had put measures in place to ensure the official inauguration of the Kebbi State in April 2019.

According to her,Gov Abubakar Bagudu will put all hands on deck to ensure that Kebbi State achieves the greatest potential in the trade corridor.

“Kebbi is a commercial hub for a lot of agro-allied activities and of course, we can trade with Niger republic within the ECOWAS free trade zone.

“Doing that will promote trade and food security, which is part of the package of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration in the country,” Abubakar said.

The cross-border cooperation initiative is aimed at enabling communities at border regions to achieve the ECOWAS free trade policy by 2020.

 

 

 

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