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, this month, has been postponed.

The organisers, Africa International Trade and Development Trust, said on Sunday that the postponement was due to the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for upgrade of its dilapidated runway.

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 in Abuja; is now slated for June 2017 at the same venue.

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 of Nigeria.

“Efforts to convince registered participants and embassies to use the Kaduna International Airport were fruitless; we’ve 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 Sand Mba Kalu, spokesman of the conference organisers.