The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to come up with new trading policies amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war which started on the 24th of February, 2022.
The Federal government announced that it will set up a new trade policy with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) countries with whom it shares important mutual trade relations.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, disclosed this on Thursday, 17th March 2022 at the Ministerial Press Briefing at the State House in Abuja. He said that the trade department of his ministry has been mandated to analyse the crisis in the region as its concerns trade with Nigeria with a view to coming up with a report.
According to the Minister, the report will be presented to the President of the Federation, President Muhammadu Buhari for his approval before being released to the public.
In his words: ‘’My ministry is looking at all the issues involved since the war has come up. The trade department is looking at what we import and export to these countries at war with a view to come up with a policy paper which we will present to Mr. President.”
Keynotes
- The Russian-Ukraine war began almost two weeks ago, precisely on 24 March 2022 with Russia special military operation into Ukraine. In an attempt to support the Ukranian government and its people, the United States and other European nations began the imposition of sanctions on Russia.
- This war has disrupted the global economy supply chain and has created inflation hikes in countries that particularly trade with Russia and Ukraine.
- For Nigeria, on capital importation, since 2019, it has received a total of $84.3m in capital imports from Russia, the report noted from the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
- Nigeria imported N144bn ($346.2m) worth of durum wheat in 2020 and N123.9bn ($297.8m) worth of durum wheat between January – September ’21 from Russia. Nigeria also imports different types of seafood such as mackerel, herrings, and blue whiting from Russia.
- The NBS data also show that Nigeria imported milk worth N721.5m ($1.7m) from Ukraine in 2021. Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of agricultural commodities, particularly grains. Based on data from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), of the United Nations, both countries accounted for about 30 percent, 80 percent and 14 percent of global wheat, sunflower seeds, and maize exports respectively, in 2020.
- Overall, this means the ongoing conflict also has a potential negative impact on the country’s imported food inflation rate, potential (but minimal) disruptions to trade activity and capital importation.
