What Tantalizer's Multi-Million Dollar Deal with US Based Harvester Fisheries Says About Nigeria's Trade and Investment Opportunities: The Need for an Efficient Political Ecosystem.





Overview:

Last week Tantalizers Plc.'s subsidiary – Tantalizers Fisheries – secured a  deal with US based  Harvester Fisheries LLC, that would see the American company import shrimps, and prawns worth Millions of dollars annually from Nigeria.

The [Tantalizers] fisheries company, - a subsidiary of Tantalizers Plc. -  operates from the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, Nigeria and is an  object-oriented.

It specializes in harvesting, trawling, processing, and exporting wild-caught shrimp and prawns in line with global quality and food safety standards. Harvester Fisheries LLC is based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, one of the most active fishing ports in the United States

The deal has implications for Free Trade Zones viability, deeper business cooperation with the United States, enablement by relevant government ministries, department and agancies with the Ministry of Insutry, trade and investment chairing and/or anchoring the intergovernmental committee on trade and investment partnerships in line with; Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Standards Organization of Nigeria, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).


Freeze Trade Zones (FTZs) Viability:

An export deal between a fisheries company in a Free Trade Zone, and a company in a city with one of the most active ports in the whole of America shows strong operational viabilities in the Free Trade Zones and opportunities in other extraction and semi-processing sectors; e.g. Steel, Copper, Tin, Iron Ore, Aluminum, etc.


Why the Deal Matters: FTZ Viability and Sectoral Opportunities:

A successful export contract between a Nigerian Free Trade Zone operator and a U.S. firm located in one of the world’s busiest fishing ports highlights the operational and commercial viability of Nigeria’s FTZs.

More importantly, the deal signals broader opportunities for other extraction and semi-processing sector (e.g., steel, copper, tin, iron ore, and aluminium) to leverage FTZs for global market access.

This outcome is not accidental. It is a reflection of marginal improvements in regulatory oversight, private-sector engagement, and compliance with global standards.


Institutional Drivers Behind This Progress:

The deal is not without effects from the efforts of key institutions whose mandates directly or indirectly enhance Nigeria’s export environment:

- Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA): For overseeing , promoting and regulating free trade zones.

- Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and and Investment: For facilitating such trade with industrial and trade policies and overseeing and cooperating with the organization designed to operationalize free trade zones activities in Nigeria - NEPZA.

- Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC): For cooperating - in acting on their mandate - with the ministry of trade and NEPZA to enhance export activity.

- Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN): For their key role in coordinating and promoting mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) in standards and professional qualifications as as trade agreements. Though it is unclear if there has been a signed and/or ratified MRA with the US. 

- Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON): For ensuring harmonization and enforcement of global standards in local businesses. This improves acceptance and by extension market access.


Future Policy Implications:

To build on this momentum, greater coordination across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) is essential. This calls for:

• strengthened inter-ministerial committees,

• a clearer policy direction,
harmonized regulations, and

• the continuous building of policy credibility, consistency and effective implementation, to build trust and bolster investor confidence in non-economic risk factors.


ZE Remarks and Assessments: Policy Credibility and the Path Forward.

This development demonstrates the importance of policy credibility in attracting trade partnerships.

The Nigerian government must:

- streamline bureaucratic procedures,
- modernizstion and expansiin of export infrastructure, (e.g., the new federal government approval for renovation and refurbishment of ports),
-reduce the cost of doing business, and
-support enterprises through predictable regulation.

With deliberate follow-up policy reforms, Nigeria can replicate this outcome across industries where it holds comparative advantages and potential for scale.


The Significance of a Public Sector:

The efficiency of public institutions through which these policies are implemented also comes into the fold. And there needs to be an improvement in this regard, from incentives and more effective controls to encourage and promote overall fiscal discipline and accountability in public sector institutions.

This is cause fiscal policy is only as effective as public institutions are efficient and competent.

The Tantalizers - Harvester LLC deal embodies parts of the type of development drive Nigeria needs: a private-sector-led export deal made possible by improved standards, regulatory alignment.

Improving institutional and policy ecosystem, the country is necessary to unlock the substantial opportunities that exist for Nigerian manufacturers, commodity traders, farmers and agro-processors, and other resource based insurers. All these positionis the country as a credible investment destination in Africa.

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