Preparatory training of the Trainers for the WB TFWA training of the SSCBTS. This held in NANTS office from 28th August 7th September 2024. - The National Association of Nigerian Traders NANTS

The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) is the umbrella Organization for Traders in Nigeria, with mandate and overall objective/vision of advancing trade beyond buying and selling to a vehicle for socio-economic justice, sustainable development and poverty reduction. Our mission is the “promotion of trade, agriculture and economic development within a view to championing the rights of Entrepreneurs through strategic programmes and policy intervention.

Recently, NANTS won and secured the project and contractual agreement of the World Bank (WB) to train 200 Small Scale Cross Border Traders (SSCBTs) in Nigeria under the project called Trade Facilitation West Africa (TFWA).

TFWA is an initiative driven by multiple development partners (USAID, the Netherlands, EU, and GMZ) to improve trade facilitation in West Africa. The Program is managed by the World Bank Group and the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ) with strategic oversight and guidance provided by a Steering Committee, chaired by the ECOWAS Commission and supported by the UEMOA Commission as Deputy Chair.

The aim of the training is to support SSCBTs to overcome barriers and to improve the relationship between traders and border officials. The training is also an opportunity to create awareness on trade rules and regulations among the SSCBTs, which in turn helps them know their rights as traders.

To achieve the above, NANTS will train the SSCBTs using set of training modules developed by TFWA and adapted to Nigeria’s reality and peculiarities.

The training is splitted into 12 sessions for the 13 Modules for about a minimum of 2 hours per day for 12 days.

Several SSCBTS belonging to different associations will be screened and profiled, with 200 beneficiaries finally selected for the training scheduled to hold in Lagos from the 10th of September to 4th October 2024. The 200 SSCBTS will be splitted in 8 batches of 25 each for ease of training and communication.

Experienced and well-grounded experts have undergone training preparations to equip them with skills for the exercise.