Musbau Babatunde
Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council(NEPC),Dr.Ezra Yakusak,says Nigeria’s economy will not collapse, if crude oi dries up today.
He said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association(CICAN) Stakeholders Conference
He maintained that the non-oil sector of the economy would sustain the economy in the event that the crude oil dries up.
He said:”Nigeria will not have oil one day. Assuming that there is no crude oil tomorrow, what happens?I strongly believe if crude oil is taken away from us today, Nigeria will not crumble.
“It is when you are pushed to the wall that you know your potential, capability and what you can do.If crude oil disappears in Nigeria, we are going to come out stronger.We have so many products that we can leverage on.
“I need to tell you that Nigeria is so blessed with so many products that you will be amazed.We just realised that people are not even aware of the products we have.We exported 214 products last year. People were surprised that we have these products.
“Because of this, the management of NEPC has decided to launch a programme called, “Export 774″ which is targeted at identifying the products in all the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the Export4Survival Initiative, Yakusak explained that the programme is a clarion call for all Nigerians to adopt export trade as a means of economic development that will boost the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
“It was designed to be pivot for sustainable economic development as it seeks to increase awareness on the opportunities that abound in non-oil export,” he explained.
He affirmed that Export4Survival Programme has the potential to increase Nigeria’s foreign direct investment, create jobs, enhance economic sustainability and value addition of Nigeria’s products.
He, however, stated that the NEPC discourages exporters from exporting raw materials, adding that without value addition, Nigerian exporters would be exporting jobs to other countries.
He said one of the critical components of Export4Survival campaign is packaging of Nigeria’s products, adding that Nigeria has one of the best products in the world.
“Our products are good, well processed but the packaging is very poor. Packaging is key. We are working on a regulation that will make us to see your packaging before export.
“Our products have been rejected abroad due to poor packaging. In packaging, we need to be sensitive to the environment,” he said.
He disclosed that the Export4Survival campaign has paid-off, adding that in 2022, that non-oil sector generated over $4.82billion as export earnings.
Earlier, Chairman of CICAN, Mr. Ifeanyi Onuba, expressed optimism about the growth of the nation’s economy, adding that “recent developments have shown that the Federal Government’s drive for economic diversification from the oil to the
non-oil sectors, given the volatile nature of crude oil prices, is yielding the desired results.”
According to him, “We must support non-oil exports to boost the economy in the light of present economic
realities.
“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.
“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.”
