Abuja – The Nigeria International Trade and Investment Conference (NITIC) 2017 with focus on agribusiness, manufacturing and financial services billed to hold in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital in March, has been postponed till June.
Organisers, Africa International Trade and Development Trust said the postponement was due to the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for upgrade of its dilapidated runway.
The spokesman for the conference organiser, NITIC, Mr Sand Mba Kalu disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
The conference, themed: “Multiple Frontiers-Moving Away From Oil”, aims to bring together local and international stakeholders to a common platform to strengthen the positive contributions from International Trade and Investment in the non-oil sector, focusing on agribusiness, manufacturing and financial services.
NITIC 2017, endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) amongst others, scheduled for March 2017 at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja, is now slated for June 2017 at the same venue.
He said the change in date was necessary to accommodate the interest of stakeholders while allowing for the completion of maintenance and extensive repairs at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, by the Federal Government.
“Efforts to convince registered participants and embassies to use the Kaduna International Airport were fruitless;
“We have talked to several of them but they seemed not interested in Kaduna. So, the only option was to postpone it to June, when the renovation work at the Abuja airport runway would have been over.
“This change in date is at a huge cost, with travels and other logistics altered”, said Kalu.
