The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says its forthcoming Halal Expo Nigeria 2020 will be used to project Islamic banking and insurance as financial solution to all Nigerians. The ACCI President, Adetokunbo Kayode at a news conference in Abuja said that Nigeria had more than 100 million Muslim population making it an ideal market place worth trillions of dollars.

He added that Islamic finance, relatively a mature interest-free market that catered for the Muslim consumer, had estimated the total assets of sharia-compliant products across the world. He said the Halal industry now spans across food processing and services, cosmetics and personal care, pharmaceuticals and logistics industries are expanding further into life style offerings.

Kayode said the expo, slated to hold from June 8 to Jun 10, 2020 in Abuja, would increase trade volume and investment in Nigeria’s halal economic sector.

Listing the benefits of the expo, the ACCI president said that it would create a platform to tap into the more than N2 trillion used halal market and enhance Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as the economy. “It will provide over 100 million Muslims halal food from properly certified agency opportunities to expand and get exposed to other markets in the Muslim countries,” he said. The industrialist said the expo would create a platform that will encourage big volume export from Nigeria to Muslim countries and give access to markets in the Middle East, Malaysia, Pakistan and Indonesia. He said that as the Halal movement gained traction, the global industry sets its sights on Nigeria’s growing demand for Sharia-compliant goods. Dr. Ibrahim Oreagba, Chairman, Halal Certification Authority also said that the expo was aimed at guaranteeing safety, wholesale, quality and public health to Nigerians and Muslim population that demanded Halal products based on their faith. Oreagba said the expo would also create awareness in the sense that Halal products were not limited to what was permissible based on the Quran but also to something hygienic, wholesome and High quality. This is even as he explained that Halal standard for products was just being developed in Nigeria with the agency in collaboration with Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). He listed some Halal non-interest financial institutions as Jaiz Bank, Taj Bank Abuja, Lotus Capital and Albarka Micro Finance Bank, which partner with entrepreneurs by funding businesses based on loss and profit shares platform.

Source: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/why-we-want-to-hold-maiden-halal-expo-in-nigeria-abuja-chamber.html