TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Olusegun Awolowo as the secretary, national action committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesperson, announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday.

Adesina said Awolowo’s appointment took effect from December 19, 2022 and would last for a tenure of four years.

The national action committee on AfCFTA was inaugurated in 2019. It is co-chaired by Adeniyi Adebayo, minister of 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, the establishment of an ECOWAS trade policy committee, resolving issues in the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme (ETLS); establishment of an ECOWAS Members peer review and audit mechanism, and amending article nine on ECOWAS protocol on decision making.

As secretary, Awolowo is expected to provide direction to the national action committee on the AfCFTA for effective coordination of relevant stakeholders towards the attainment of Nigeria’s strategic national interest.

“Mr 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 the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He also worked with the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Abuja as Secretary for Social Development and Transport from 2007 to 2011,” Adesina said.

Awolowo was the executive director/chief executive officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) between 2013 and 2022.