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In the wake of the imminent global hunger, the Nigerian government has been called upon by a British non-governmental organization, OXFAM, to go all out to fine-tune its strategies aimed at protecting the country’s agricultural sector and trading policies at the international trade level.

OXFAM reasoned that, as the food crisis rages on the world over, Nigeria stands better opportunity given its endowed agricultural potentials to identify those agricultural products, improve on their quality to be able to survive the possible famine imminent in the near future.

More so, an analysis by Oxfam shows that if EPA is signed, annual losses from tariff cuts will be as high as $360m for Africa alone and $9bn for compliance for all countries involved, not mentioning the loss of independent trade policy, badly needed to promote development and protect livelihoods.

According to a report in a document signed by Ifeoma Nwosu of the Trade Network Initiative (TNI), a network of NGOs involved in trade negotiation, the current hike in the price of rice in the international market stands to be an eye opener on need for Nigeria to adequately seek measures to protect its agriculture sector in the process of identifying sensitive products and also take measures for improving agriculture productivity.

The report also stated further that government needs such policy position on sensitive products with a legal framework that ensures continuity and sustainability of policy interventions for economic growth and poverty reduction in line with NEEDS II, Vision 2020 agenda and the MDGs.

The group contended that Nigeria ’s government defiance of the ECs pressure to initial interim EPA despite the seemingly challenge of safeguarding West African integration processes is commendable. It is imperative for Nigeria to continue to reject unequivocally any trade deal that will not inextricably link to development prospects to the Nigeria state in particular.