Russia/Ukraine war: FG plans new trade policy with former USSR nations

The Federal Government has said following the war between Russia and Ukraine, it is working on a new trade policy with countries in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with whom it shares important mutual trade relations.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, disclosed this, yesterday,  at the weekly inter-ministerial press briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa,  Abuja.

He said the trade department of his ministry had been mandated to analyse the crisis in the region as its concerns trade relations with Nigeria and come up with a report.

“Once that report is ready, I will present it to the president, after presenting to the president, I will come here to brief you about it,” he said.

A recent report relying on data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) warned of the impact of the war on Nigeria as it showed that since 2019, Nigeria has received a total of $84.3million in capital imports from Russia.

The country also imported N144billion ($346.2million) worth of durum wheat in 2020 and N123.9billion ($297.8million) worth of durum wheat between January – September 2021 from Russia.

It also imports different types of seafood such as mackerel, herrings and blue whiting from Russia.

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According to the NBS data, Nigeria similarly imported milk worth N721.5m ($1.7m) from Ukraine in 2021.

Adebayo, who made presentations on the Presidential Sugar Backward Integration Program (BIP) said Nigeria targets self-sufficiency in sugar production in the next 10 years, even as it plans to begin the export of the commodity.

He said about five per cent of sugar consumed in Nigeria was produced locally.

“We believe with the programmes that we have in place that within the next 10 years, we will be 100 per cent self-sufficient in sugar, and not only that, we’ll be able to export  sugar produced in Nigeria,” he said.

Adebayo, also spoke on ports decongestion in Nigeria, saying  new ports would soon come on board to ease the pressure on Apapa and Tincan ports in Lagos.

“On the development of ports, I pointed out earlier that yes, apart from Apapa and Tincan; we have a new port of Lekki coming up. I know that there are plans for a new port to come up in Badagry.Calabar port is a problem; apparently there is a court case on that one at the moment with regards to a subcontract for the dredging of that as well. As we all know, Port Harcourt and Onne are operating, and the government is looking at improving the road network to that port so that it can ease the congestion of Lagos,” he said.

On  clearing challenges importers grapple with at the seaports and how such challenges are stifling ease of doing business in Nigeria, the minister said plans are underway to keep the ports open for 24 hours, seven days a week.

SUN