ABOUT 80 per cent of trades between Nigeria and the West African countries are informal, going by the estimates of the West African Association For Cross-Border Trade In Agro-Forestry-Pastoral And Fisheries Products (WACTAF).
The President of the Executive Committee of the AOCTAH-WACTAF, Alhaji Alasoadua Nassiru Salami, in a zoom presentation to the Minister of Trade And Investment, said most of the traders preferred to sell their products informally through local markets because of government policy on incentives.
He said informal trade had existed before the advent of colonization, but the advent of modernisation and the importance of trade to national economic development have made capturing of informal trade statistics very important.
He said: “Informal trade in export means good of commercial value taken outside a nation’s border unrecorded by appropriate authorities. It is currently estimated that 80% of trade between member and countries are informal,”
The presentation, which was delivered by the Secretary General WACTAF Nigeria Chapter, Femi Odusanya, revealed that informal trade triumphs because of government policies such as multiple taxes along the corridor for transit levy on ETLs goods.
Other reasons for informal trade are because there was no proper means of transportation and cargo distribution system, no harmonizing transit levy and overloading of truck; and non implementation of ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods (IRST), among others.
Salami also linked the development to insufficient technical and financial resources to achieve regional objectives through better coverage of collection points, persistent harassments and obstacles to regional trade in agricultural products from space (given some figures on border crossing times, the number of roadblocks along the corridors);
He also pointed out that the states’ lack of political will for a lasting solution to the major constraints, in particular the issue of harassment, the security of states and lack of funding and capacity building for stakeholders.
He urged the government to help set up our information and facilitation structure at our different borders and to offer us a grant that will allow us to get started.
In awareness-raising programs and to enlighten throughout the six geopolitical zones of the Country in order to make known to all the actors, actors, operators the importance of the fight against the fraudulent smuggling of prohibited goods and insecurity.
WACTAF main objectives are to promote solidarity in the matters of food security and nutritional as well as trade in the Sahel and ECOWAS countries.
It contributes to formalization of informal trade of food or agro-sylvo-pastoral, fishery and agri-food products at national and regional level across 15 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo,
Salami said its actions would enable states and regional economic communities to have reliable figures for political guidelines and production forecasts for the region with regard to agricultural products
He suggested that the formal exports procedures and documentation. could be simplified through; construction of loading points, weighing bridges and scanners along international corridors; public and private sector partnership in capturing data; private sector partnership in the creation and functioning of an Agricultural Regional Commodities Exchange.
Also, he said WACTAF would generate informal trade data on agricultural products and livestock through the collection center and border post through its strong experience in collecting data from ECOWAS agricultural products; a bill of lading data form and informal packing list, as well as a pro forma invoice to each collection center will be introduced.
Others procedures suggested are: personalized connectivity between member states is very important; at state level: better collaboration, support with the services and administrations in connection with our activities; at the level of regional economic communities and regional institutions: technical and financial support for the achievement of AOCTAH / WACTAF objectives; at stakeholder level: better structuring of grassroots organizations and increased collaboration with AOCTAH / WACTAF in a win-win spirit.
