Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state, Wednesday, said plans have been concluded to establish a commodity marketing board, in order to increase the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and job creation for the teaming youth in the state.
He made the disclosure while playing host to the delegation of the National Action Committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) in Lafia.
Governor Sule who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, said the state would domesticate the policies of the National Action Committee on the AfCFTA while identifying commodities for exports through Nasarawa state Investment Development Agency.
Speaking, Chairman of the National Action Committee on the AfCFTA and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi, urged the state governments to explore opportunities in the AfCFTA to grow IGR through export of goods and services to other parts of the continent.
The minister who was represented by director of weight and measures of the ministry, Abubakar Aliyu Dangaladima, said they were in the state as part of the nationwide awareness and sensitisation tour in line with the committee’s mandate to prepare Nigerians to take advantage of the single continental market while mitigating its threats to the Nigerian economy.
Also, the secretary of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Francis Anatogu, said the mandate of the committee was to coordinate the activities of private and public sector at federal and sub-national levels to implement AfCFTA for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Our strategy is to work with the states based on their areas of comparative advantages and priorities as a way of building up our national export trade and creating jobs at grassroots level.
“The core objective of the AfCFTA is to create a single market for goods, services, and free movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent,” he said.
He further explained that the AfCFTA was expected to deliver an integrated continental market of 1.27 billion consumers with an aggregate GDP of $3.4 trillion.
