…says no record of Nigeria’s trade balance with China
Juliet Jacob Ochenje
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Doris Uzoka, has budgeted the sum of N1 billion for a single trip to Geneva, Switzerland.
Uzoka made this known when she led officials of her ministry to defend her 2024 budget before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Trade, Industry and Investment, chaired by Senator Idiat Adebule, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Breaking down the proposal for 2014, the minister said, “N905 million was earmarked for overhead costs while N8.1 billion was allocated to capital expenditure.”
The lawmakers sought to know Nigeria’s balance of trade, especially with China, saying the country needs to take advantage of its population to grow its industries.
Uzoka said she could not provide the requested data as there was no record regarding balance of trade between the two countries in the ministry.
“Sir, I regret to say that we seem to have no record of our balance of trade or at least it does not exist in the ministry and that is why we initiated a new unit called the trade intelligence unit to ensure that such data are generated and stored,” she stated.
