Agoa.info - African Growth and Opportunity Act
TRALAC - Trade Law Centre
You are here: Home/News/Article/Nigeria: Export partners sensitize Aba shoe/garment makers on AGOA

Nigeria: Export partners sensitize Aba shoe/garment makers on AGOA

Nigeria: Export partners sensitize Aba shoe/garment makers on AGOA
Published date:
Tuesday, 04 April 2017
Author:
Chijioke Nelson

The importance knowledge and readiness to take advantage of opportunities has been described as imperative, especially in boosting the capacity of small businesses in mobilising scarce foreign exchange.

Fidelity Bank Plc, in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Ghanaian based West African Trade and Investment (WATI) HUB in an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) workshop for leather and garment cluster businesses in the South Eastern part of the country made this known.

The event was part of efforts aimed at boosting exports in Nigeria, just as the bank has been in the vanguard of providing capacity building initiatives for customers and the business community across the country.

The two-day event with the theme: ‘Taking the Advantage of Export Opportunities to the United States under AGOA’ at the weekend, in Aba, Abia State, featured mini-exhibition by the manufacturers of the leather and garment goods.

The General Manager, Managed SMEs Division, Fidelity Bank, Ken Opara, who represented the Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said it was the desire of the bank to give the entrepreneurs the needed exposure to the local and international market.

“It’s important to key into the incentive scheme of AGOA – an incentive scheme that the American government put in place to support export of African products into American market.

“AGOA guarantees duty-free exports, but our people are not fully aware of the compliance levels needed for them to take advantage these incentives” he stated.He also explained that Fidelity Bank wants manufacturers in the Aba cluster to generate the needed foreign exchange of their own and maintained that Aba, being one of the commercial nerve centres in the country, is pivotal to the diversification of the Nigerian economy to non-oil sectors.

“We are using this platform to provide them all that they need to know to secure loans to be able to drive businesses in order to participate in the AGOA scheme. As a bank, we are with them all the way from capacity building to access to funding, including equipment finance where necessary” he stated.

The WATI HUB representative, Emmanuel Udonko, said that his organisation provides technical assistant, capacity building and marketing linkage to West African sub-region business concerns.

According to the apparel specialist, his mission to Aba was to sensitise them on their readiness to export their products to America through AGOA platform and to enable them access the market, leveraging the workshop as a good platform to start from.

But a Senior AGOA Specialist of USAID/WATI based in Ghana, said the advantages and benefits of AGOA for Nigerian manufacturers are enormous and it is important to educate them on how the be part of the scheme.

Another speaker, Chief Funso Abiri, an AGOA expert and Consultant with the NEPC, who was thrilled by the high level of interest from the Aba leather and apparels manufacturers, thanked Fidelity Bank for being very handy in providing advice and financial assistance to the manufacturers.

The National Secretary of Association Leather and Allied Industrialist of Nigerian (ALAIN), the an umbrella body for the finished goods leather manufacturers in Nigeria, Ken Anyanwu, commended the organisers of the workshop and expressed his members readiness  to be part of the AGOA scheme.

  • Also see the leather trade data section on AGOA.info at this LINK

 

Read related news articles

'Nigeria missing as Kenya, Ghana tap AGOA opportunities to boost foreign exchange earnings'

Africa’s biggest economy is still failing to tap the opportunities that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) present to boost its foreign exchange, amid acute dollar shortages. The AGOA has been on for over twenty-three years as it was enacted in 2020. In 2015, the program was modernised and extended to 2025, implying that there are only about 15 months before the window closes. Some countries have taken advantage of the AGOA more...

05 February 2024

US treasury Deputy Secretary Adeyemo visits Lagos, discusses duty-free access to the US market with local entrepreneurs

Nigerian-born United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, will be in Lagos, Nigeria between September 17 – 19, 2023, for a number of diplomatic engagements including a meeting with entrepreneurs and start-ups to discuss how they can sell their products by exploring “duty-free access” to the US market. Duty-free access is the permission given by a host country for another country to export goods into their country...

18 September 2023

Nigeria: US to 'create jobs for Africans through trade, investments in tech, infrastructure'

The United States govern­ment has expressed its willingness to create jobs through increased trade and investment in sectors such as agriculture, technology and infrastructure, as well as boost innovation and elevate the living standards of mil­lions of Africans. The U.S. Consul General, Will Stevens, disclosed this at the Africa Social Impact Summit 2023, themed: “Global Vision, Local Action: Reposi­tioning the African...

10 August 2023

AGOA: Nigeria’s untapped opportunity for non-oil export, rights enforcement

IN 2000, President Bill Clinton’s administration passed special trade laws to promote trade ties between the US, Africa, and the Caribbean. One of the enactments was the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA. To be eligible to access the benefits of the Act, participating countries are required to meet certain criteria set by the US government. Among the long list of requirements is the adherence to international human rights...

23 May 2023

Take advantage of AGOA to boost exports, Minister urges Nigerians

The Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), Adeniyi Adebayo has urged Nigerians to take advantage of the African Growth Opportunity Act, (AGOA). Adebayo said this when he received the report of the Technical Committee on the utilization of AGOA in Abuja on Tuesday. The report which was delivered by the Co-chairman of the Committee and Director of Trade, FMITI Suleiman Audu on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee and...

02 May 2023

Nigeria: Garment factory to create 2,000 direct jobs, utilize AGOA

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the weekend, said the state’s garment factory will be inaugurated this year with a take off capacity to hire 2,000 direct labour. Speaking with dozens of APC youths, progressive social media influencers, and some online news publishers on Saturday, the governor said the idea is to make Kwara a hub for garment production, which can then benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act...

26 August 2022

Nigeria: US-American chamber seeks shippers’ nod to boost non-oil exports

The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) has sought partnership with Nigerian shippers to maximally utilise the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA is a key component of US/African strategy that focuses on increasing African non-oil exports to the US. The Executive Secretary of the Abuja chapter of NACC, Ayo Salaam, disclosed that Nigerian companies had not taken advantage of AGOA because they exported...

12 June 2022

Nigerian shippers urged to take advantage of second chance of AGOA

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian – American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Mr. Ayo Salam has urged Nigerian exporters, in particular, shippers to take advantage of the second window of opportunities by African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which lapses in September 2025 to advance trade and export with the United States of America. This is as he promised to assist Nigerian exporters and shoppers leverage on the 6500 export items...

09 June 2022

Nigeria, US to leverage AGOA for improved trade ties

The United States of America (USA) Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, has disclosed that Nigeria will continue to be eligible for preferential trade access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Leonard, during a visit to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, said Nigeria became eligible after a review of the criteria set by the US Congress under AGOA. According to her, the...

01 June 2022

AGOA to stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth – NEPC

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has called on exporters to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to stimulate the country’s economic growth. NEPC Executive Director and Chief Executive Director, Dr Ezra Yakusak, said this at a sensitisation workshop on eligibility criteria and documentation for AGOA organised by the Council in Owerri on Monday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the AGOA is...

07 February 2022

'Safety issues and Nigeria’s agricultural export potential'

Sir: Growing Nigeria’s non-oil export is critical to the much-sought economic growth, employment and poverty reduction. Not least, in light of the reality of hydrocarbon resources losing its reliability and honoured position as a revenue source. Over the years, this realisation has spawned myriad of non-export campaigns, commentaries as well as other initiatives aimed at creating export opportunities for developing countries like...

06 October 2021

You are here: Home/News/Article/Nigeria: Export partners sensitize Aba shoe/garment makers on AGOA