President Muhammad Buhari has approved the appointment of Mr. Olusegun Awolowo as the Secretary, National Action Committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area ( AFCTA), for a tenure of four years effective from 19th December, 2022. The approval was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina. The national committee on AFCTA was inaugurated in 2019. It was chaired by Adeniyi Adebayo, minister for industry, trade and investment and Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning. Its mandate is to partake in concluding ongoing trade reforms programmes at ECOWAS including the adoption of common trade policy committee, resolving issues in ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme ( ETLS) ; establishment of ECOWAS members peer review and audit mechanism and amending article nine ECOWAS protocol and decision making. As Secretary, Mr. Awolowo is expected to provide direction to the National Action Committee on the African continental Trade Area ( AFCTA), for effective coordination of relevant stakeholders toward the attainment of Nigeria’s strategic national interest. Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, a law graduate from Ogun State University ( now Olabisi Onabanjo University) , Ago Iwoye, has served as Special Assistant to former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umoru Musa Yar’adua. He also worked with the Federal Capital Territory Area, Abuja as Secretary for Social Development and Transport from 2007 to 2011. He was the Executive Director/ CEO of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council between 2013 to 2022, serving two tenures the statement reads.
Buhari appoints Awolowo as AFCTA Secretary
