ECOWAS, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Kogi Organise Training  on  Trade Liberalisation

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja

As part of efforts to promote intra-community trade within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the ECOWAS Commission and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in collaboration with the Kogi State Government, have trained business associations, entrepreneurs and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the several gains of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the advantages accrued if the state keys into the scheme.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaye, disclosed this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the one-day ECOWAS  Sensitisation workshop on the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme for the North Central geopolitical zone held at the Government House in Lokoja yesterday.

Enikanolaye described the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme as a unique opportunity to strengthen intra-regional trade and economic growth.

He explained that the scheme would afford the business associations the opportunity to process their products, package them and sell them elsewhere within the ECOWAS region.

The minister commended the Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, for hosting the workshop in Kogi State, stressing that the benefits of the workshop will trigger economic prosperity to Kogi State and other states in the North Central geopolitical zone.

He pointed out that with an avalanche of agricultural and mineral resources in Kogi State, the state will remain the hub of processing mineral resources and agricultural produce to boost the state economy.

He called on participants to take advantage of the workshop to learn the rudiments of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation potential for production and prosperity.

The Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Joel Oyibo, commended the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaye, for his initiative to bring the scheme to the state when the state was striving to ensure that it taps resources to the fullest to boost the economy.

Ododo explained that the state wants to become the hub of agricultural produce and other natural mineral resources, stressing that the strategic location of the state will be an added advantage for economic development.

The governor, therefore, urged the participants to take advantage of the potential of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme to produce for the prosperity and the benefit of Kogi State and Nigeria in general.

Also, the National President of the  Chamber of Commerce and Industry,  in his remarks, lauded the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Enikanolaye,  for the good intention to promote local trade.

He pointed out that Kogi State is suitable in the North Central, adding that this will ignite the promotion of made-in-Nigeria products in the state.