By David Akinmola
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, yesterday, launched the Nigeria Trade Information Portal (NTIP) in fulfillment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement.
In his remark at the unveiling, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo said the NTIP was an outcome of collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with support from the European Union and German Technical Cooperation.
“As you are aware, UNCTAD commenced the establishment of trade Information portals in three West African countries namely Nigeria, Benin, and Mali as a pilot phase in 2016, to assist developing WTO member countries in complying easily with the WTO-Trade Facilitation Agreement.
“Today, it is with great satisfaction that we acknowledge the success of the collaboration between UNCTAD, GIZ, EU, and the Federal Government. Our ties have indeed become stronger over the years”, he said.
In a statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, Ifedayo Sayo, the Minister said the establishment of an online Information portal that clearly describes import, export, and transit procedures is a great step towards the enhancement of transparency, predictability, and a mechanism for trade facilitation reforms in Nigeria.
“NITP is not only a tool to enhance transparency (by Article 1 of the WTO-TFA) but also to identify bottlenecks and unnecessary administrative constraints and also to drive the expected reforms for trade facilitation.
“Establishment of NITP is a breakthrough for automation of trade procedures in Nigeria. It is important to state that Trade Information Portals in some pioneer countries have contributed to building trust between various stakeholders”, he added.
Some of the key features of the NITP according to the Minister include “a content management system where all texts, colours, pictures, and logos of the public interface can be modified, procedures and all corresponding data can be registered and updated, menus can be organized and administrative rights can be easily configured from password protected administrative interface. System administration requires no computer expertise and can be mastered after a few hours of training.”
