Ben Kalu to Okonjo-Iweala: Nigeria needs WTO’s support to boost export of primary products

Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, has sought the support of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in boosting the exportation of primary products from Nigeria.

Kalu spoke on Monday when he met Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the WTO, in Geneva, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the ongoing 148th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentry Union (IPU).

The deputy speaker who accompanied Godswill Akpabio, the senate president and leader of the Nigerian delegation to the IPU assembly, to the headquarters of WTO raised concerns about decline of export of primary products from Africa to other parts of the world.

He said most businessmen from Africa face challenges in marketing their products due to effrcts aflatoxins on their products, before reaching the destinations.

Aflatoxins are poisonous fungi and mutagens that grow in soil or on decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities.

Kalu solicited the support of the WTO to erect centres in Africa for the treatments of the primary products packaged for export.

“Africa is interested in exporting our primary products. We have always had issues with these primary products we are exporting,” the deputy speaker said.

Aflatoxins, I don’t know what you are putting together to help these products reduce that because it’s one of the complaints about products coming from Africa.

“I don’t know if there will be centres around Africa where businessmen who cannot afford to do this decontamination will get that particular centre and detoxify their products to be able to meet the quality specifications before selling them off.

“Is WTO interested in this and how much so. Are there programmes designed to be able to facilitate this?

On her part, Okonjo-Iweala said WTO is aware of the challenge, noting that the organisation is also eager to assist countries in implementing their respective protocols.

“At the WTO, we have been heavily promoting something we called re-globalisation,” she said.

“We are trying to persuade supply chains of companies located outside Africa. We are trying to tell them that this is also a good place.

“WTO is very much aware. Many of the rules are built based on our rules.

“So, we have an interest in keeping in touch and making sure any country that wants to request our help to implement their protocols and so on, will be able to do that.

“And we hope it will take off in a good way. Now, one big thing we have to watch is, we cannot all trade the same thing to each other.

“We are growing primary products. We are not going to trade Cocoa to Cote d’Ivoire. We can trade oil because most of them want oil but we don’t just want to trade that.”