The President of the NANTS in his welcome address reminded participants of the pivotal role that trade plays in wealth creation and the overall ability of a nation to exit from poverty. He reminded participants that previous efforts by the country to formulate far reaching trade policies that will address the development needs and add value to the country have largely been un-successful; a trend which he opined was not sustainable if the country must progress and achieve desired results from her trade policies. He noted that if Nigeria must grow as a nation, then the perennial problems of bureaucratic, non-inclusive, annual budget-driven, incoherent, non-evidence based, policy-summersault- ridden policy processes that has failed the nation in the past must be jettisoned for an inclusive, stakeholder based and owned consultative process.

He further stated that if Nigeria must have a vibrant industrial sector (whose contribution to national GDP has fallen from 8.8% in 1990 to 4.1% in 2008), stakeholders must make a strong case for addressing the debilitating supply side constraints, and the lack of consultation with operators that have bedeviled the country’s policy making and implementation process in the past. readmore