As the nation struggles to wriggle out of the present
economic recession, stakeholders have called on the government to create an
enabling environment to facilitate the strengthening and proper utilization of
the Trade Liberalisation Scheme of
the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS).
This, they noted, will help consolidate a common market
for the country, boost industrialization, create employment opportunities,
increase economic activities, and ensure the creation of a free trade across
borders in West Africa.
Speaking recently in Lagos at a workshop jointly organized
by Deliotte West Africa and Nigerian Association of Chambers of
Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), the Director General,
NACCIMA, Mr. Emmanuel Cobham, noted
that the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation
Scheme (ETLS), when effectively implemented would reduce poverty and
enhance development in the country.
He said: “When effectively implemented, the ETLS scheme will improve trade flows among countries, and also, their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will perform better with enhance economic opportunities, corresponding increase in income, jobs creation, with attendance reduction on poverty and enhanced development.
“In view of recent development in the global economy, it
is important for us to embrace intra regional trade which is currently low and
largely informal but with considerable potentials for increase, taking into
consideration, the population and abundant human and natural resources
available.”
Cobhams further stated that there was the need to
sensitise Nigerians about the scheme and related protocols in order to
facilitate informed monitoring and oversight as part of their constitutional
responsibility. “This is why NACCIMA went into partnership with Akintola Williams
Deliotte in educating exporters and manufacturers on the importance of the
scheme, and also to address the issues and challenges that have so far plagued
the implementation of the scheme,” he added.
According to the Program Officer, Free Trade Area,
Customs Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission, Aissata Koffi, the ETLS serves as the main operational instrument
for the promotion of Free Trade Area in the West African sub-region, and is in
tandem with the objectives for which ECOWAS was established.
Koffi said: “The ETLS is the main ECOWAS operational tool for
promoting the West African region as a Free Trade Area and the Commission’s
first step towards the realisation of the objective of the community which is
the establishment of a common market through the liberalisation of trade by the
abolition, among Member States, of customs duties levied on imports and
exports, and the abolition among Member States, of non-tariff barriers.”
Chief Operating Officer, Deloitte West Africa, who was
represented by a Senior Partner and member of the board of Deliotte, Mr.Femi Abegunde, reiterated that the
workshop was necessary considering the fact that a good knowledge of the scheme
would provide a stepping stone for domestic products to raise their heads
towards the global market. According to him, the scheme has brought improved
market access for locally produced goods, increased productivity in the private
sector and as well protects West African economic operators from undue
competition. (Guardian)
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