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Nigeria loses $6bn in trade with UAE

By on April 17, 2014

The volume of trade between Nigeria and Dubai has continued to dwindle as a result of the failure of the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ibrahim Awailu to transfer the Nigerian Trade Centre (NTC) in Dubai to the Ministry of  Industry, Trade and Investment(MITI), as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan  in 2012.

Data obtained by THISDAY at the Dubai customs central statistics office, showed that the inflow of trade and investment between Nigeria and UAE has slowed down drastically as a result of the disagreement between the Director General of the NTC, Mohammed Baiwa and Awailu.

According to the data, while flow of trade between UAE and Nigeria grew from $500 million to $1 billion in 2004 and about $3 billion in 2011 when the NTC was fully operational, it only managed $1billion in 2013. This is $2 billion lower than the $3 billion recorded in 2011.

In a chat with THISDAY in Dubai, the NTC boss stated that Nigeria is losing investors as Nigeria has no trade centre in the region like other countries.
He accused the Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda as the architect behind the failure to transfer the NTC to the ministry of Industry,  Trade and Investment.

According to Baiwa, “When we started the NTC a few years ago, the volume of trade between Nigeria and the UAE moved from $500 million to $1billion annual. Before then, Nigeria had no embassy in the UAE. But when Yuguda was appointed ambassador, he wanted to change the NTC to his personal company and we refused. He opened an office and called it the Nigerian Trade Mission (NTM). They have collected money from government for this purpose and the office does not exist anywhere in Dubai.

“Since then, he has done everything to destroy me. He has called me a drug pusher, reported me to the authorities in the UAE. I was investigated and given a clean bill of health. They have held my passport for two year now and this is despite a presidential order that they allow the NTC operate independently under the trade ministry.”
THISDAY investigation revealed that countries like the United States, India, China and Kenya have regional trade centres independent of their country’s embassies.
The NTC Dubai is a business development liaison office created to facilitate Nigeria’s international businesses, trade and product access into the UAE, the neighbouring Gulf states and the Asian continent markets.

As part of its efforts to strengthen trade between Nigeria and the UAE, the Federal Government had approved the transfer of the NTC) in Dubai to the Ministry of  Industry,Trade and Investment.

The NTC, hitherto under the Nigeria –UAE Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was renamed Nigeria Trade and Investment Promotion Centre (NTIPC). Under the arrangement, NTIPC was to be a regional trade office (RTO) and serve as a liaison office for trade and investment in Dubai under MIT and I.
THISDAY learnt that President Jonathan approved the transfer sometime in May 2012.

Tit was gathered that  MIT and I under the leadership of Mr. Olusegun Aganga had received approval to open new trade offices in Berlin, Germany and Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, with plans to also establish RTOs in Cairo, Egypt; Pretoria, South Africa; New Delhi, India; Dakar, Senegal; Brasilia, Brazil and Perth, Australia.

Currently,  Nigeria operates trade offices in Shanghai, China; Taipei, Taiwan; and Geneva, Switzerland that promote trade and investment in addition to their statutory roles.

 

 

[This Day]