NEPC planning to boost up non-oil exports to N691bn

The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is planning to boost up the income of the country by 30 per cent over the next four years by non-oil exports.

According to NEPC the income generated from non-oil exports stood at $2.7bn (N531bn) as of December 2014 and a 30 per cent increase will see the figure rise to $3.51bn (N691bn) in the next four years. The council is also planning to generate 1.5 million jobs in the small and medium enterprises sector of the economy in the next five years.

These figures are exhibited in a road map at the Nigerian Diaspora Export programme held on Thursday. The road map was presented to the stakeholders in Abuja during the implementation of the programme.

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Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive officer, NEPC, Mr. Segun Awolowo said that the programme was a direct response to the dwindling revenue from oil. He also said that the country had yet to fully utilize the potential of non-oil exports despite the fact that Nigeria was gifted with abundant natural resources other than oil.

A new National Trade Policy and Strategy which was intended to integrate Nigeria’s industrial, trade and investment priorities was made earlier as a part of efforts towards increasing the country’s non-oil export sector. But the result was not satisfactory.

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Now with this step taken the foreign exchange reserves will increase steadily and in addition, business expansion for the local firms and reduction in the production cost can also be achieved.

The Nigerian Export-Import bank is also willing to offer credit, risk-bearing and trade information services to non-oil exports.