By Godfrey AKON
Nigeria recorded significant growth in nonoil exports, trading a total of 214 products valued at $4.8 billion US Dollars, the highest value ever achieved by the country.
Executive Director of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, disclosed this on Wednesday, while delivering a paper at the 2023 Stakeholders Conference organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria, CICAN, in Abuja.
Yakusak attributed the rekindled activities in the country’s non-oil export sector to several projects and programmes initiated by the council to develop and promote the sector for sustainable economic growth.
The NEPC boss, who spoke on “Export4Survival: Exploring Nigeria’s New Gateway to Generating Foreign Direct Investment and Engendering Economic Growth,” said the council’s efforts to reposition the economic base of the country from an oil-dependent to a non-oil export-oriented one is encapsulated in its mandate.
“The Export4Survival campaign was officially launched on November 21, 2022, by the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo. The Council had commenced a series of programmes and initiatives to actualize the campaign.
“These efforts are yielding positive dividends, the non-oil export sector recorded a significant upsurge in revenue, recording US$ 4.820 billion in revenue for the year 2022 representing an increase of 39.91% over 2021 export value. This revenue is the highest value ever achieved since the establishment of the NEPC, 47 years ago, and is destined to change the economic trajectory of the country,” he said.
While stressing that foreign direct investment is very key for Nigeria and other nations, he said “apart from money, it brings with it knowledge of technology skills and employment. It helps to boost the manufacturing services sector and resultant effect is creation of jobs and help reduce unemployment in the country.”
According to him, Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, is a major contributor to NEPC’s quest of developing the Nigerian non-oil export sector, which has necessitated the council to design and implement various programmes that are geared at attracting FDI.
Yakusak said NEPC seeks to encourage Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs to implement voluntary certifications like food safety, quality management systems, and others that will enhance global market access, adding that “FDI into this sector will improve quality infrastructure reflecting on the exporters’ processes and products, as well as accelerate the implementation of the certification systems.”
Speaking further, he described value addition as one of the key issues of the Export4Survival campaign, stating that the export of raw or unprocessed commodities does not yield much foreign exchange.
“E.g. We export 770 metric tonnes of Sesame, Cashew and Cocoa, 12% of which is consumed locally. 758, 000 MT are exported annually. Unfortunately, only 16.8% is processed. The rest are exported raw,” he said.
He lamented the lack of value addition was exporting jobs away from Nigeria with the raw products to other countries.
The NEPC boss expressed belief that with the right strategy and policies, Nigeria can leverage FDI to develop its non-oil export sector, stating that NEPC firmly believes that “our survival as a nation depends on non-oil export,” even as he urged all Nigerians to join the Export4Survival campaign train.
He also added that foreign direct investment and international trade are both drivers of the global economy and facilitate cross border transfer of goods, services, and capital around the world, stressing that Nigeria requires a significant inflow of that FDI and can leverage on nonoil export.
The NEPC executive director emphasised the importance of packaging in nonoil export, lamenting that the reported rejection of some Nigerian products abroad was due largely to poor packaging and not the quality of the products.
Earlier, the Chairman of CICAN, Mr Ifeanyi Onuba, said “Nigeria must move beyond oil and export of raw commodities and build a vibrant manufacturing sector capable of exporting finished goods that could boost the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
Onuba added that “Expanding the country’s non-oil export has remained a matter of strategic economic importance requiring continual intervention and CICAN will continue to put the issue on the front burner of public discourse.