Professor Jonathan Aremu
Speaker
Jonathan Adeyemi Aremu, is a Professor of International Economic Relations; and a former Acting Vice Chancellor of the Covenant University (CU), Ota, Nigeria between 2004 and 2005. He is also a Consultant, at ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on Common Investment Market (ECIM), Abuja. Aremu started a successful career at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he rose from Assistant Economist in 1980 to become the Acting Assistant Director of Research before voluntarily retiring in December 1992; and established Marketlink Consults Ltd in 1998.
At national level, Aremu was among the experts appointed by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2012 to develop a Trade Policy for implementation in Nigeria; in October, 2018 he was a Member of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Nigeria Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and currently a Member of the National Action Committee (NAC) on AfCFTA. Aremu was appointed as the National Consultant of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) that developed the AfCFTA National Strategy for Nigeria. He was also a Coordinator in one of the main Technical Working Groups established by the Federal Government that developed the National Development Plan 2021-2050. He is also the Consultant that developed the adopted Nigeria Investment Policy in May 2023.
In ECOWAS Region, Aremu was appointed by European Union (EU) as the Monitoring Expert for the preparation of an ECOWAS Investment Guarantee /Reinsurance Mechanism (2012); and the Financial Expert that drafted ECOWAS Common Investment Code and Policy by European Union. He is the Lead Consultant on the Common Investment Market (ECIM), to coordinate the establishment of ECOWAS Payments and Settlement System (EPSS), West African Capital Market Integration (WACMI), ECOWAS Common Investment Code and Policy, among others till present. He was a Member of ECOWAS Tax Harmonization Committee;
Expert that conducted the Study on ECOWAS Trade in Services Policy Review, assisted by UNCTAD (published 2020), and he is equally providing Technical Assistance to the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) activities. Aremu is an expert appointed by GIZ and the ECOWAS Commission to provide capacity building to both the Commission and the Member States in the negotiation and implementation of AfCFTA Investment Protocol for ECOWAS region. He is also the Consultant that developed the Procedural and Manual of Operation of ECOWAS ECIM Council to implement AfCFTA Investment Protocol and the ECOWAS Investment Code and Policy. He is now being Seconded by EU, through Expertise France Groupe AFD, in the implementation of AfCFTA Protocol on Investment at ECOWAS region relying on the ECIM Council institutional arrangement.
At Continental and International levels, Aremu was the National Coordinator/Country Team Leader of UNIDO Investment Survey in Nigeria in 2009-2012; Member of the technical experts that developed the Pan African Investment Code (PAIC) that was used in the development of adopted Investment Protocol of AfCFTA; and currently a Member of the Technical Experts appointed African Union
(AU) towards the Domestication of Sustainable Investment across AU Member States.
Professionally, Aremu is a life member of both the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) since 1990 as well as Nigerian Society of International Law (NSIL) since 1998; a member of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs since 1993; and the current Facilitator of Trade, Investment and Competitiveness Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) as well as Member of the National Economic Advisory Council. Prof Aremu is also currently the Chairman of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture
(NACCIMA) on AfCFTA Trade Group; and a Member of the Editorial Board of Canadian Institute for International Law Expertise (CIFILE), Toronto. He is equally the Chairman of the Board of the African School of Diplomacy and International Relations, in Nigeria.