Surmounting Trade Barriers in the West African Sub-Region (ECOWAS)

Possible contributions of the

Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria (SEDIN) Programme

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 Borderless Conference, Abidjan by Alexander Werth,

Head of Component Regional Economic Integration
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Programme Overview
Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria Programme (SEDIN) Overall Programme Objective: Access to demand-driven financial services and employment for MSMEs are improved Programme Duration: April 2011 March 2014 (first Phase); possible second phase. Political Programme Partner: National Planning Commission
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Where we work

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Programme Structure

Component 1 Supporting the Financial Sector Reform

Component 2 Supporting the Enabling Environment Reform Agenda/ Value Chain Promotion

Component 3 Supporting Regional Economic Integration (ECOWAS)

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Component 3: Regional Economic Integration

Nigeria championing ECOWAS-wide economic convergence through improved policy coordination and coherence
1. Trade Facilitation 2. Tax Reforms 3. Cross-Border Banking Supervision

FMTI NCS
MoF
OPS

FIRS

CBN

NDIC

Implementing ECOWAS policy measures that facilitate regional trade

Implementation of reform measures to strengthen tax administration

Improving supervisory cooperation between Nigeria with countries where Nigerian banks run subsidiaries
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Trade Facilitation
3-Tier Approach
1. Capacity Development of Trade Policy Makers/Implementers

2. Capacity Development of Trade Policy Users (Private Sector)

3. Monitoring/Reporting of TF bottlenecks

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Trade Facilitation Partners/ Platforms/ Stakeholders

FMTI (Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment) NCS (Nigeria Customs Service) OPS (Organised Private Sector) NANTS (National Association of Nigerian Traders)

TFTF (Trade Facilitation Task Force) Enlarged National Focal Point National Facilitation Committee

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Trade Facilitation
Planned Activities Capacity Development

FMTI
Leadership/Change Management training of senior staff Technical training on interregional trade-related issues Strengthening capacity to steer the national trade governance structure Strengthening of communications and dialogue capacity vis--vis private sector/non-state actors

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Trade Facilitation
Possible Activities Capacity Development

NCS
Support of capacity development of NCS Staff College/Regional Training Centre Facilitate academic partnerships with international centres of excellence Training modules on ECOWAS Trade Policy Improving technical trade facilitation capacity of NCS staff (facilitating joint trainings and information exchange across national borders; surveys/impact studies on custom policy changes)
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Trade Facilitation
Possible Activities Capacity Development

OPS
Training on traders and citizen rights and obligations under ECOWAS policy frameworks Conduct jointly case studies on trade barriers to Nigerian non-oil products within ECOWAS Pilot project on trade facilitation monitoring by OPS/NSA through an SMS/web based whistle blowing mechanism on malpractices

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Trade Facilitation
Possible SMsART Monitoring Mechanism
Establishment and maintenance of a ICT/SMS-based trade facilitation monitoring/observatory system Pilot phase in 1-2 Nigerian border state (e.g. Ogun, Lagos) Feasibility study in Nigeria to understand the political and technical capacities to implement an SMS-based reporting system to combat trade-route corruption Reporting system will feed a webbased crowd-sourcing platform with features such as real-time updates and monitoring, location awareness and geographical mapping capabilities
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Trade Facilitation Activities SMsART Mechanism 2

Required Safeguards and Possible Risks
1. Anonymity of reporting citizens must be ensured (only location data compiled). 2. Assurances of independence of system 3. Whistleblower protection 4. Data security and quality (how to verify submitted information?) 5. Civil society sensitisation and advertising campaign for broad-based participation
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Thank you very much!

alexander.werth@giz.de
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