FMITI Signs Performance Bond ...... Moves To Boost Nigeria's Economy, Charts Bold Course for 2025

The HM, Trade and Investment, FMITI, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, HMS (Industry) FMITI, Sen. John Owan Enoh, standing in support behind the Perm. Sec. FMITI, Amb. Nura Abba Rimi and  MD Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede both signed the MOU between FMITI and Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation on digitalization of the Ministry and Capacity Building. Standing to the right of the PS is the Director of Legal FMITI,  Barr. F. Foluso Akinlonu. Tuesday 11/02/25.

"The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment is just beginning its digital transformation, and with a 2025 deadline fast approaching, this partnership will be instrumental in accelerating our progress.” Jumoke Oduwole

Following the conclusion of a high level two-day retreat, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI) on Tuesday 11 January, signed a performance bond, marking the beginning of a purposeful programme execution. 

The retreat, which had in attendance, the Minister of Trade and Investment, FMITI, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole and the Minister of State, Industry, John Enoh, focused on presenting the FMITI's 2025 Roadmap, which sets the stage for a new era of strategic execution. 

A key highlight was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between FMITI and the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, aimed at driving digitization, performance management systems, and capacity building across the Ministry.

Reflecting on the collaboration with the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Oduwole expressed her enthusiasm for the journey ahead. “This is a pivotal moment for FMITI,” she stated. 

“When I first received a congratulatory letter from the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, it came with an offer to help. Having followed their work for years, I knew this was an opportunity we could not afford to miss. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment is just beginning its digital transformation, and with a 2025 deadline fast approaching, this partnership will be instrumental in accelerating our progress.”

She commended the Ministry's leadership team for their commitment to aligning with the Presidential Eight-Point Agenda and highlighted the impressive presentations from various departments and agencies.

With the performance bond in place, FMITI's leadership, including CEOs, Directors, and Heads of Trade Missions, has reinforced its accountability and commitment to delivering tangible results. The Ministry is poised to unlock Nigeria's vast industrial and trade potential, positioning the country as a global economic powerhouse.

Speaking on the sidelines of the retreat, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, while fielding questions from journalists on her 100 days in office, disclosed that it has been jam-packed with activities.

"We believe that we have delivered quite a bit of impact for Nigerian businesses. The first thing we did was to focus on businesses operating in Nigeria," noting that "Investment retention is extremely important and as such, we decided to give them maximum attention. 

"We started with Nigerian exporters in November, the 100 top exporters in Nigeria, during which, we had a ministerial consultation with them. Of course, I have known a lot of their challenges from the public sector, but it was important to come up with an action plan. So we started implementing that action plan, and I think they will bear witness even with the implementation the approval of the national single window project. That's part of it, the trade facilitation. 

Oduwole noted that the Tinubu administration has been on the issue of Trade facilitation and will continue to speak with MSMEs and bigger businesses.

"We took some time to map out what our trade policy review should look like at the end of November. At the end of October, we had our WTO review, which is once in seven years, and we had over 400 questions from different countries. This signifies the interest in Nigeria's economy. 

"We have taken those questions and looked at it in terms of how the world sees our economy and what we can do about that. We have also taken and aggregated all of Mr. President's trips since before we came on board, and we saw that about $50 billion has been announced and promised for this Nigerian economy. That is about the figure that people say that we need to rebalance this economy and we have grouper them into sectors.

She disclosed that the government is committed to ensuring that Nigerian youth can have jobs right from here in Nigeria, they don't need to japa. 

"Nigerian youths are entrepreneurial, dynamic, mentally agile, suitable not just for customer care programs, which is fine, but even paralegal, accounting, health health service, telehealth services.

She also talked of digital trade, public digital infrastructure, like the national single window project and the immigration passport project. "These are things that enable technologies and will help this economy to be energized in terms of delivering on our mandate. 

"So it's been an interesting 100 days. We have focused on exports. We focused on afcfta." She stated.

"Right now I am on my way to Addis Abba for the Ministerials Heads of the AU Minister Heads of State meeting and there again, we are going to put forward these priorities and come back with the robust interventions for Nigerian economy," she revealed.

Tasked on what Nigerians should expect,  beyond the 100 days, Dr. Oduwole pointed out that, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is very much ready.

"We are digital trade champions, and we are going to seal that. You saw me host the Secretary General of the afcfta Secretariat at the beginning of January, and we are aligned in a lot of programs that we are pushing. The afcfta agreement is one that is unique for Africa, apart from the digital trade protocol. 

"It focuses on youth led businesses and women led businesses. It focuses on MSMEs, which is where the continent is dominant. Therefore, leveraging on that agreement, we are overhauling our afcfta implementation strategy with all the stakeholders to make sure that the businesses are aware of what they can do and to handle them through that process so they can export. We've also made a spirited bid for the affect same international trade fairs, the biggest in the in Africa. 

"Last week, we posted the due diligence committee that came to Lagos state, where we bid to host it at the newly renovated National Theater, that trade fair in 2027 and the CANEX the year before in 2026. 

"We are planning to use that occasion to begin the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of FESTAC 77. I'm giving you a lot of titbits here that are not yet public, but I believe that Nigeria should be on this journey with us. We are working very closely with all the agencies and with the Lagos state government. 

"The Lagos state government is fully committed from their trust. We went on the blue line. It was a very vibrant activity. We're also hosting the AU MSME Forum this year. And so you see three years of activities lined up for the Nigerian economy.

"The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is the first ministry to host its retreat this year, 2025, we were pleased to brief the Head of the Civil Service last week, and she was very excited. We signed an MOU with the Aig- Imokhuede Foundation to digitize the Federal Ministry. We also signed performance contracts ahead of our signing of our new Performance Bonds with Mr. President." She restated.