Zero-Tariff Policy: FG urges Nigerians to boost production, exports

By Favour Ulebor

ABUJA — The Federal Government has urged Nigerian businesses to increase production and take advantage of China’s zero-tariff policy to expand exports of Nigerian products to the Chinese market.

The Special Assistant on Communication and New Media to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Magnus Eze, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

Eze said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, gave the charge in a message to participants at an international seminar organised by the Centre for China Studies in Abuja.

The minister said China’s decision to extend zero-tariff treatment to 100 per cent of tariff lines for African countries presented Nigeria with an opportunity to increase production, create jobs and expand its exports.

She described duty-free access to China’s market of about 1.4 billion people as a game-changer for Nigeria’s agro-processing, textile, solid minerals and manufacturing sectors.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Nigeria must move beyond exporting raw commodities and focus on value-added products, including processed agricultural goods, textiles, leather, pharmaceuticals and manufactured products.

“Zero tariff is meaningless if we have nothing to export,” she said, stressing the need for the country to strengthen its productive capacity.

The minister added that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and other relevant agencies would collaborate with Chinese investors to establish factories in Nigeria for the production of goods for export to China.