NEPC Canvasses on Non-Oil Exports to Stabilise Economy

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Following the dwindling state of Nigeria’s economy and the fall of the Naira, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has expressed the hope that increase in non-oil exports in the country would help to stabilise the economy.

Managing Director of the NEPC, Mrs Nonye Ayeni who stated this in Port Harcourt yesterday, at an interactive meeting with exporters in the South-South region pointed out that increased in non-oil exports would help to bring in foreign exchange, create jobs, alleviate poverty and stabilise the nation’s currency.

She called on exporters in the region to scale up their products to meet international standards as the country can no longer depend on oil exports for national income.

According to her, “Non-oil exports holds the key, its pivotal to economic growth and development and it also aligns with the President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda of job creation and poverty alleviation as we can no longer depend only on oil. We are talking about the need to double our exports which is our mantra”.

She said the Commission was working with state governments and other relevant stakeholders to develop non-oil products in their states and also to link smaller exporters to bigger ones to increase their capacity.

“We also have the one state one product and mentorship programme where we link the smaller exporters with the bigger exporters to teach them the rudiments of exporting.

“We are also trying to create markets for products and we believe if this is done, we’d be able to increase the volume and value of our non-oil exports and that would bring in foreign exchange into the country and they would help to stabilise the economy and grow the Naira,” Mrs Ayeni said.

She however, called on states in the region to look beyond oil and develop other non-oil products such as palm oil and palm nuts.

On how to make Nigerian products acceptable at the international market, Mrs Ayeni urged Nigerian exporters to double-up their production, add value to it, proper packaging and certification, practice good agricultural systems and avoid too much use of insecticides and pesticides during farming to avoid rejection in the international market.

She continued that the Commission is working with various organisations such as the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority and others to make export seamless, while it has rolled out various initiatives such as One-State-One-Product, Operation Double Your Products amongst others to encourage exporters in the country.

Earlier, the South-South Coordinator of NEPC, Mr Ganiyu Gbolagade said the interactive session afforded exporters in the region the opportunity to get answers to their teething problems while enhancing the relationship between the stakeholders and the council.

“From this meeting exporters have learnt about product certification, export incentives, packaging and labeling, products financing and leveraging.

It’s our hope that at the end, we will have knowledge of various strategies composite in the councils new mantra, to be able to take positive steps towards doubling Nigeria’s export volume and value”, Gbolagade said.

Exporters at the meeting who spoke with THISDAY, called on the government to make export seamless, training and retraining of exporters on global best practices, creation of functional testing laboratory in the region, uniform freight rates for all ports in the country amongst others.