By Ladi Patrick-Okwoli
Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, says it is currently compiling exports potentials in all the 774 local government areas across the federation, geared towards attracting foreign direct investments into the country.
Yakusak, who disclosed this during the Export4Survival campaign hiking tour recently in Abuja, said the programme is tagged ‘Export 774’ and targeted at identifying exportable products in the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
According to him, “the programme was inspired by the rising non-oil export valued at $4.8 billion, which is the highest ever achieved by the country.
“We have also training exporters on adding value to their products and ensuring proper packaging that would guarantee acceptability in the world market and reduce incidents of export rejects”.
The NEPC boss explained that the compendium would guide investors on what to invest in and where to get those exportable products, as well as the market competitiveness of such products.
He underscored the need for Nigeria to embark on export of her products, adding: “We need to export to survive as a nation.” On the impact of the Export for Survival campaign, he explained that it was designed to create awareness and promote the non-oil sector of the economy, adding that “the campaign has improved the performance of the non-oil sector over the last two years.”
He further pointed out that, as a result of the campaign, new products such as sorghum and orange peel had been introduced into the export market
He, therefore, urged the private sector to explore the non-oil sector and invest therein to boost the country’s economy, conserve foreign exchange, scale up industrialisation and create jobs in the country.
NEPC had embarked on the Export for Survival Campaign to increase the awareness of opportunities in the non-oil sector and the benefits of exporting Nigerian goods and services.
The initiative also intends to make all Nigerians to realise the urgency of engaging in non-oil export as a viable means of economic growth, industrial development and boosting foreign exchange earnings, among others.