Trade Ministry Clarifies Budget For WTO Office

Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investments has said the N1.6 billion in 2024 budget for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) office in Geneva covers the personnel and overhead costs of the members of staff of the department as well as providing capital for its operation for the year.

The budget was released yesterday in Abuja.

In a reaction to reports by a section of the media that over N1 billion was set aside by the minister of trade, industry and investments, Doris Uzoka-Anite, to cover a trip to Geneva next year when the minister appeared before the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Trade, Industry and Investment to defend her ministry’s budget, the ministry gave a breakdown of the allocations.

It said of the total amount, N806,379,820 covers personnel cost, N204,058,434 for overhead while N600,745,345 is set aside for capital, which brings the total budget to N1,611,183,599 which the ministry said is in line with the total budget of the Geneva Trade Office published on the Nigerian Budget Office website.

A source in the ministry disclosed that a memo from the Nigerian Ambassador in Geneva had confirmed that the capital expenditure (CAPEX) budgeted for Geneva’s trade office was N93 million, saying with the intervention of the minister, it was increased to over N600 million to settle all outstanding debts as contained in the budget quoted in the draft statement.

Apart from the trade office, other departments in the ministry that got allocation included the Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry headquarters, N14.2billion, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) N4.3 billion, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) headquarters N749 million, and Industrial Training Fund (ITF), N3billion.

Others are the Nigerian Export Promotion Council N1.3 billion, the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority N70 billion, the Lagos International Trade Fair N417 million and the Federal Produce Inspection N442 million.