Federal officials have taken the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme to businesses in the North-East, holding a sensitisation workshop in Bauchi aimed at manufacturers and agro-processors in a zone that has spent a decade contending with insecurity.

The scheme allows goods produced within member states to move across regional borders without the duties that would otherwise apply. Officials described it as a way to make legitimate regional trade easier and strengthen cooperation between member states.

The emphasis on legitimate trade is doing some work in that sentence. Informal cross-border movement in the region has never needed a scheme; the difficulty has always been bringing it into a system where it can be taxed, financed and insured.

Why the North-East

Choosing Bauchi rather than Lagos or Kano is a deliberate signal. The zone's producers are the least integrated into regional trade structures and the most affected by the security situation that has disrupted them.

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, represented by his deputy Auwal Jatau, said the state would support local investment and work to broaden business opportunities.

The framing

The ministry presented the engagement as part of the administration's 4D foreign policy framework, which it says puts Nigerian citizens at the centre of external dealings.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye used the same event to argue that President Tinubu's economic reforms had delivered a reasonable degree of price stability and growth, while acknowledging that inflation remains high.

Reporting by THISDAY. This summary was written by the TalkNaijaMedia desk.