The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, has stated that the trade sector contributed over 10.8 million jobs to Nigerians by the third quarter of 2017.

Speaking at the launch of  Nigeria Annual Trade Policy Report (NATPOR) on Tuesday in Abuja, Enelamah said statistics indicate that trade activities (import and export) in the sector employed over 14 per cent of the Nigerian workforce, an equivalent of 10.8 million people.

He also revealed that the sector contributed 18 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2017.

The Minister said the overall value of Nigerian trade between 2014 and 2015 decreased by approximately 7.4 billion (from about 23.7 billion in 2014 to 16.3 billion in 2015).

“In terms of percentage, this is a decrease of about 18.5% in trade value between 2014 and 2015. The decrease in 2015 reflected the recession in economic activities due to the sharp decline in oil receipts.

“There was a slight increase in 2016.  Stronger more positive performance is expected with Q4 figure in 2017,” he said.

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He said the annual report identifies the priorities in Nigeria’s trade policy to enhance the economy, the minister said the government was working hard to phase out the export of primary products to which value has not been added,  adding that South Africa has remained the country’s strong trade partner in the continent.

Enelamah commended the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations for their roles in making the report possible, just as he expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to learn from Switzerland in the area of trade development and rapid economic development.

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