Prof. Ngozi Egbuna Leads ICRITR Visit to NEPC on Export Development and Trade Research Partnership

The International Centre for Regional Integration and Trade Research (ICRITR), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, led by its Director, Prof. Ngozi Egbuna, paid a strategic visit to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) as part of efforts to strengthen collaboration on export development, trade research, and regional integration.

The engagement focused on building a sustainable institutional partnership aimed at enhancing Nigeria’s export competitiveness through research, capacity development, policy support, and stakeholder engagement in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.

In her welcome address, the senior and executive management staff of NEPC, led by the Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Nonye Ayeni, warmly received the ICRITR delegation, describing the visit as timely, strategic, and deeply appreciated.

Mrs. Ayeni stated that NEPC remains committed to promoting non-oil exports and supporting Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda, stressing that achieving such objectives requires strong collaboration with research and policy institutions like ICRITR.

She further noted that NEPC sees great opportunities for partnership with ICRITR in areas including trade research, capacity building, export development, trade intelligence, and stakeholder engagement.

According to her, both institutions can work together meaningfully towards strengthening Nigeria’s export competitiveness and advancing regional integration across Africa.

During the engagement, discussions centered on proposed areas of collaboration including joint certification programmes on export readiness and procedures, trade finance and payment systems, AfCFTA opportunities and compliance, executive training programmes, and research on non-oil export diversification, trade facilitation, and regional value chains.

The proposed partnership is also expected to support SMEs through technical assistance on product standardization, market access strategies, export incubation programmes, and the development of trade policy briefs, export intelligence reports, conferences, and policy dialogue platforms.

Prof. Ngozi Egbuna emphasized the importance of stronger collaboration between policy institutions and academic research centres in driving sustainable trade development, export growth, and economic integration within Africa.