NIGERIA'S TRADE POLICY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: FROM THE LENS OF WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

Abstract

Multilateral Trade Agreement occurs when countries come together and agree to discriminate against non-members of the group by means of removing trade barriers among themselves while maintaining such barriers against "third" countries. Developments in both multilateralism and regionalism have raise issues of trade policy strategies. At the ~level, it raises issues of which best trade policy strategy to adopt. Consequently, this paper examines Nigeria's trade policy in the light of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Nigeria's response to these exciting developments is with a view to helping to chart an improved strategy for effectively taking advantage of them,'as well as defending its rights in the evolving.' world trading system. Put more broadly, this paper examines what the developments portend for Nigerian's development strategies. It discusses the process of charting the way forward for Nigeria and examines the role of complementary policies in the development process, bearing in mind that trade policy, being one of many development policies, requires the support of other policies and programmes to produce optimum results.