By Merit Ibe [email protected] In response to the United States’ 14 per cent tariff slam on Nigeria, the federal government, through the Ministry of Trade and Investment is setting its sights on expanding Nigeria’s export footprint to 250 global markets. Also on the cards is a strategic plan to empower exporters and position them to harness the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), so that ultimately, new opportunities are unlocked and trade horizons diversified. The minister, Jumoke Oduwole, assured that the ministry was working with businesses that are US-focused, to cultivate new terrains that hold tremendous value. Recognising that the tariff may pose challenges for Nigerian exports and affect the country’s international competitiveness, she emphasized that the federal government is proactively developing strategic responses, rather than resorting to reactionary measures or retaliation. “The good thing is that we’re responding. We’re not reacting or retaliating to the tariff slammed on Nigeria when it comes to positioning Nigeria in the best possible way. However, this disruption affects the entire world, the entire trading system, and therein lies the danger. We don’t want the global economy to go into a recession, and we don’t want retaliation. You know, Africa is kind of insulated from global trade because we’re just less than 5 per cent, about 3 per cent, of global trade. So we don’t want to end up being collateral damage or the unintended consequence.” Noting that the U.S. is a long-term strategic trading partner, the minister said most of the exports to the U.S. are oil, and that’s under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA is a U.S. trade program that allows eligible sub-Saharan African countries to export certain products to the United States duty-free, aiming to promote economic growth and development in Africa. “So Nigeria is really in quite a good position. We have to also think about our second-largest exports, fertilizers, urea, and lead. Those are businesses that have been growing in market share,” she said, lamenting the uncertainty the situation will cause them, such as a disruption to their operations. “So we’re working with those types of businesses.” She noted that the government is trying to diversify exports to help MSMEs. “We’re also looking at our MSMEs. They are not covered by AGOA; it’s just about 2 per cent, but for businesses that are U.S.-focused, this will be a disruption to their businesses, so we’re also working with them to diversify Nigeria’s exports to over 250 countries.” On the AfCFTA, she said: “We’re very much bullish about the AfCFTA and enabling our exporters to really take full operationalization of that agreement. So those are some of the strategies. Looking across the world as well, as you know, Mr. President has been working on generating investment from different countries across the world since May of 2023, and what that means is that a lot of G2G agreements have been made. So trade is a continuum.” The minister said operationalizing the AfCFTA has been her priority area. “Mr. President has been commended as a digital trade champion. We’ve been pushing our exports agenda. I am very bullish about this agenda. So, we have had a plan, another eight-point agenda. Item 7, which is where this industry comes to play, speaks to accelerating diversification.” “So this is an area that we’ve been looking at for a long time because this is what’s going to help MSMEs. MSMEs are nearly 50 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP. And so we’ve looked at that demography and we identified the AfCFTA because it speaks to women-led businesses, youth-led businesses. It speaks to the informal sector, formalizing it. It speaks to MSMEs and how they can attract foreign exchange by exporting across the continent. So we’ve identified it as an area that would work for the Nigerian economy.” “So we have a strategy that we are implementing, having looked at the demographics of the economy and what would be good for the people. We have been speaking on digital trade, exporting business services, facilitating export for the AfCFTA, for MSMEs, looking at free zones, looking at tax reforms. All these things enable the Nigerian economy under this president to respond rather than to panic and react.”