By Ade Jacobs
The Managing Director of the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Zaheera Baba-Ari, has said that all is being done to ensure Nigeria takes advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
She noted that 20 warehouses have been established across the country for commodities export, including laboratories for certification as part of quality control measures.
AfCFTA, a trade block similar to the European Commission established to promote free trade in the continent, took effect on January 1, 2021.
“The establishment of the continental trade bloc will be beneficial to African countries if properly managed”, Baba-Ari said in Abuja over the weekend, in a veiled response to initial fears that Nigeria and other countries could become dumping grounds for foreign goods except government ramps up activities in the manufacturing sector.
In preparation for the upsurge in local commodity production, the agency said a network of 20 warehouses across major production areas in the six geo-political zones of the country have been established for efficient receipt and storage of agro-commodities to be traded on the exchange.
The warehouses, she stated, are located in Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Ebonyi, Ekiti and Kogi states.
Other new warehouses will be established in Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, Jigawa, Edo, Cross River and Ondo before the end of the year, she stated, noting that they have a combined capacity to store 50 trillion tonnes of goods.
She said AfCFTA would be vigorously used to revitalise economies in the continent that are struggling due to the hit from the coronavirus pandemic since the first quarter of 2020.
“The NCX has acquired a robust Trading Application System for seamless buying and selling of commodities to ensure market integrity, price transparency and the facilitation of cross border trades. It has also acquired a Warehouse Management System that assures an efficient management of warehouse inventories. We have perfected Memorandum of Understanding with relevant foreign and Nigerian Commodity Associations like the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange and the Export Merchants Association of Sudan to trade in selected agro-commodities.”
She said that goods emanating from the country would be able to compete with others across the world. The agency has launched Quality Assurance Laboratories, QAL, in each of the delivery warehouses, she said, adding that the labs would be used for testing the quality of commodities such as paddy rice, cocoa, sesame seed, soya beans, maize, sorghum and cashew nuts before they are satisfied for export.
The labs, she stated, have been certified to ISO22000 certification which combines ISO 9001 with Food Safety Management and Hazard Analysis, including Critical Control Point System (HACCP).
According to her, “The HACCP identifies specific hazards and proffers measures for the control of identified impurities in the food processing sector. The issue of tariff on agro-commodity exports from Nigeria should be addressed to increase efficiency of trade flows.
“There is also the need for Nigeria to improve its position on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking from its current 131st rung of the ladder.”