By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala on Tuesday disclosed that the European Union has reported Nigeria to the global trade body over the country’s dairy policy.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this when she visited the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as part her “Thank you tour” to the country.
Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO has received a letter from the European Union (EU) complaining about Nigeria’s restrictions on milk and diary products.
According to her, “we have complaint against us from the EU about the violation of the Balance of Payment (BOP) agreement with respect to trying to protect the dairy industry and they feel that this is not the right instrument”.
She added that “as DG WTO I have to make this known but this is an issue which you said you will like to engage in a little more detail so we can discuss that later about it”.
WTO Ngozi Okojo-Iweala said has “remedies which can help us without banning things, we can be able to protect our industries against dumping and cheap imports and so on if we use those remedies”.
Nigeria she disclosed “is trying to establish a trade remedies authority and I want to strongly support that so we can use those remedies as a tool to help our industries to grow”.
In February 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria met with some companies in the milk and dairy industry who have keyed into the bank’s backward integration programme to enhance their capacity and improve local milk production.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that “all authorized dealers are to note that all Forms ‘M’, for the importation of milk and its derivatives shall only be allowed for the following companies: FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria; Chi Ltd; TG Arla Dairy products Limited; Promasidor Nigeria Limited; Nestle Nigeria PLC (MSK only) and Integrated Dairies Limited.
To encourage the government, Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria has “what it takes, particularly in our young people to do the necessary which is to look forward as to how we are going to create jobs and move this economy in the direction that will support our youth in the future”.
She said “there are opportunities that can be had to improve trade and services so that our economy can climb out of the pandemic and recession that we are in faster than would have been the case”.
Regarding Nigeria’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the WTO Director General said, there has to be talks “about the transition of this economy from an oil and fossil-based economy to one that is dependent on other sources of revenue and job creation”.
Nigeria she said has “two or three decades to make this transition and the reason is that the world is moving extremely fast away from the use of fossil fuels. Some countries have said that by 2025, they will no longer have cars based on petroleum in their country, it will now be electric”.
“we need to think about what this means and how do we transition to other areas. This is a big task in front of Nigeria and I want to see us putting more conversations about that and tapping those sources and services”.
In his reaction, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said the process to bring milk and dairy producers has been on for six years with the milk and diary producers treating the matter with levity.
According to him, the producers have been in Nigeria for over 60 years and have not deemed it necessary to engage in backward integration but rather is comfortable importing products into the country.
Emefiele said, “at that meeting we took a decision that those who are not embracing our own backward integration programme with the dairy industry should be restricted. It was not my decision, it was a decision taken by all at the meeting”.
Stating Nigeria’s case, Emefiele said “Nigeria is a country that needs help and I dare say help from WTO and we would work with you, we do know one way or the other people might have seen or said a few things about the way we’ve conducted our trade but I think its important for me to say that some of those things have been done to also help our own industry”.
He added that “we need to give a chance to our own local industry to grow, we need to give a chance for our local industries to create jobs and employment. The unemployment rate in Nigeria I dare say is very high our youthful population of the age of about 18 to about 40 is almost about 60% of our population. You can use that to your advantage or to your detriment”.
