The European Union has written a letter to the World Trade Organisation to complain about the milk and dairy restriction policy of Nigeria.
Director-General, World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed this during her visit to the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.
CBN in July 2019 included milk and dairy products on its list of items not eligible for foreign exchange.
This led to a restriction in the importation of milk into Nigeria, as the commodity was now grouped among agro-products such as tomatoes rice, etc.
Okonjo-Iweala told the CBN that the WTO would look into the complaint presented to it by the EU, as she encouraged Nigeria to take advantage of global trade opportunities being a member of the WTO.
She challenged the government to take steps to improve trade logistics so as to improve foreign interest in the country.
“Nigeria ranks 103 out of 167 in trade logistics index. It is not very good but this is an opportunity for us to improve.
“If our logistics are not sound; if we do not have the kind of transport system; the kind of energy system we need, we will not be able to move,’’’ she said.
She said that the Nigerian economy was already diverse, adding that the country only needed to add value to its various economic potentials.
Okojo-Iweala pledged her support and that of the WTO to Nigeria’s effort at creating enabling environment for trade and investment to thrive.
“We need to begin to talk about transition of the economy from oil based to non-oil. We have two to three decades to make this transition but we must start now,’’ she advised.
Discussion about this post