The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NEPC

  • ‘How Nigeria can become top export-nation’

    President of Koinonia Global Services Inc., Canada, Olufemi Boyede, is a certified International Trade Professional with over 30 years of professional experience in international trade and strategy with bias for export business.

    He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on how Nigeria can maximise export opportunities. Excerpts:

    What in concrete terms do you think should be done to effectively promote non-oil sector?

    Non-oil export development is a direct function of a broad-based consultative and generally agreed and adopted National Export Strategy.  Such a strategy will have a National Strategy Team driving it.  This does not imply a vote of no confidence in the National Agency charged with responsibility for non-oil export promotion.

    Rather, it helps first and foremost to establish collective ownership (and therefore, collective responsibility for success or failure).  It establishes synergy (of all MDAs and the Private Sector Associations and sub-groups with stake in the growth of the country’s exports.

    Of course, a perfect strategy will also contain an action plan, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism and be flexible enough to be subjected to regular, if not continuous modification.  Resources for its implementation will have to be budgeted for (and must be outside the usual running budget of the NEPC.

    Above all, the team as a whole must be made to report to an authority higher than the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.  In the case of the United States of America that I am so fond of citing, the team was actually of Cabinet status and reported directly to President Obama.

    The lowest ranking member was the Secretary (Minister) in charge of the relevant agency and Heads of the Private sector players.

    Until we understand the National Export Strategy team must be unique, deliberate and vibrant (more like a task force) we are very unlikely to get any results.

    Looking at our non-oil sector and the global trend of doing business do you think as a country we have a chance in making a statement in the global front?

    Based on what is on ground now, my answer is a categorical no.  International Trade (exports) thrives on competitiveness.  There is no way an average Nigerian exporter can favourably compete as of today in the international market.

    Apart from the myriad of challenges back home that culminate in unduly high unit cost of exports, our reluctance to sign some agreements that bestow zero or preferential tariffs on our products has also negatively impacted our ability to compete globally.

    Ask a Nigerian exporter of Cocoa. The EU remains Nigeria’s biggest importer of Cocoa and other agricultural products.  Since we out-rightly rejected (in whole) the Economic Partnership Agreement proposed by the EU, Cocoa, (beans and other value-added derivatives) now attract as high as 7% import duty in the huge EU market.

    Worse still, the Export Expansion Grant, the only one of 18 existing (by law) export incentives in Nigeria, has never really worked smoothly.  I can tell you categorically right now that the last time any Nigerian exporter enjoyed the EEG was in 2014.

    Commendably, the NEPC succeeded in getting the backlog of unpaid grants (2007-2016) incorporated into the Federal Government’s domestic debt profile.  The Council has pushed for this to be paid via promissory notes but despite promises that exporters would receive these PNs before the end of 2018, access remains a mirage.

    Along the line, the NEPC modified the scheme, reducing the grant rate from a possible 30% of repatriated proceeds to 15% (with exporters required to pay a 2% Administrative fee (before collection, mind you).

    The grant was to be paid via a newly introduced instrument tagged the Export Credit Certificate.  Again, despite all the motions we have seen, no movement has been achieved.  We are gradually approaching a third export year now (another set of backlogs) and yet, no one has seen the colour of the Export Credit Certificate.

     

    How do you assess the current administration’s policies in the sector?

    For an administration that came in when Nigeria was just clawing herself out of the throes of economic depression, it was expected that more serious attention would be paid to non-oil exports.

    Unfortunately, the administration seemed to immediately distance itself from non-oil export orientation by basing its diversification agenda on non-oil revenues, particularly tax thereby trivializing the non-oil export sector.

    I am not playing on language and connotations here.  There is a clear distinction between non-oil revenues and revenues from non-oil exports.

    Mr. President recently presented the 2019 Budget to the National Assembly.  In the breakdown subsequently released by the Minister of National Planning, only 5.2 billion was earmarked for payment of export incentives, particularly the Export Expansion Grant.

    Going by the trend of EEG paid-outs over the past ten years, I am shocked that government by this singular action seems to be establishing a threshold beyond which Nigerian exporters are not allowed to go.

    Ironically, a whopping N305bn has been earmarked for payment of subsidy on imported petroleum products. The ERGP is a 142-page document.  The first time the word “non-oil export comes up in the entire document is on page 73 and it was just a passing mention of the government’s commitment to pursuing the NEPC’s zero-oil plan.

    The zero-oil plan itself has been evaluated by the International Trade Centre and this United Nations Global Agency for (Export) Trade Development has told NEPC categorically that it does not qualify as an export strategy.

    That is why Nigerians have been saved the noisome cacophony of zero-oil- that was nearly all over the place for two full years.  So as it stands, we really still do not have a National Strategy on Export Development and Promotion.

    You have been part of some state’s summit on non-oil export. What from your view is stopping states and even individuals from invading the world with their products? The Ogun State adire industry readily comes to mind?

    Let me start by stating emphatically it is not only Ogun State that has an exportable product in the adire you referred to.  The 36 states and FCT have at least 2 products that can make waves in the global market.

    Niger State is the world’s largest producer of shea nuts butter.  Paradoxically, 95% of this product grows in the wild.  Why is Niger State not the world’s largest exporter of shea butter?  Ondo State produces 65% of Nigeria’s Cocoa and Nigeria is rated as the world’s sixth largest exporter of Cocoa.

    What is the ranking of Ondo State in World Cocoa deliveries?  Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers States between them have the capacity to catch up with Malaysia on Palm Oil.  What is the share of these states in world trade in palm oil?  Lagos State has the longest/largest natural beach along West Africa.

    Cocoanut grows in the wild and even with its Coconut Development Agency Lagos State is yet to feature officially as a world exporter of Coconut (and derivatives).  I could go on and on.

    The Nigeria Export Promotion Council, one of its presentations, listed at least twenty products where Nigeria is top-five largest producer in the world.  But in not a single one of these does the country feature even on the top-fifty list of exporters.

    The answer is simply where there is no plan, there cannot be results.  And plans will come as a result of the leadership’s understanding and prioritization of non-oil exports as an economic roadmap.

    Talking about incentives for exporters what is the current situation?

    As I had stated in answer to one of your questions earlier, the situation is dim and gloomy. Again let me reiterate that this situation is sad.  Check the world’s largest players in export trade.  The USA, Australia, China, Malaysia, India and Ghana next door, all have very fantastic and functional support instruments, programmes and incentives to push their products into the world markets.

    South Africa, the last time I checked, had thirty-four separate Export Promotion Councils, each dedicated to a sector where the country deems herself to have high potential.  Nigeria has only one.

    Australia incentivizes exports to the level of refunding a telephone call made by an exporter, or the cost of visit of a potential importer, once these lead to actual export sales.  Australia and USA have a yearly Presidential Exports Awards instituted over fifty years ago.

    Recently, Nigeria, through the NEPC, decided to activate the never-started Export Development Fund.  I am not sure if the Fund has been endowed and how much the Federal Government is dedicating to this only pre-shipment catalyst for export growth.  Permit me to say in pidgin English – our road still far.

     

  • NEPC encourages women participation in non-oil exports

    In an effort to promote effective grassroots participation in non-oil export development activities, a one-day SheTrades sensitization forum has been organized by Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Calabar export assistance office, in collaboration with African Women Entrepreneurship Programmes (AWEP) in the Cross River State capital.

    Director General/Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said the sensitization forum is aimed at creating export awareness, educating women entrepreneurs on how to successfully register on the SheTrades platform and to create a database of women export oriented companies in the state as well as mobilize women entrepreneurs participation in their programmes and services.

    Represented by the Trade Promotion Advisor of NEPC in the state, Dr. Emmanuel Etim, Awolowo noted that the forum will also help to build the capacity of women entrepreneurs and business support organizations on SheTrades initiative and its benefits as well as build entrepreneurial skills that could stimulate growth in non-oil export activities, create jobs, grow the nation’s GDP and promote industrialization in the state.

    “This sensitization forum is carefully designed to promote women participation in non-oil exports trade as well as enlighten women exporters/entrepreneurs in the state on accessing the benefits of SheTrades initiatives platform,” he said.

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    He urged women exporters, association and members of organized private sector (OPS) to take full advantage of the sensitization forum to access the benefits of the SheTrades platform by participating in the programmes thereby building their entrepreneurial skills that could stimulate growth.

    Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Cross River State, Mr. Peter Egba, represented by the Director, Administration, Mr. Thomas Atim said activities and programmes have been carried out by the state government on export promotion on non-oil products.

    He stated that the state government is prepared to key into the initiative and that efforts will be made towards awareness creation and sensitization on the initiative.

    The theme of the forum was “Promoting women participation in non-oil exports trade.”

  • NEPC wins award

    The International Trade Centre (ITC) has said the Nigeria Export Promotion Council is among three national trade and investment promotion organisations that won the 2018 World Trade Promotion Organisation Awards in Paris, France.

    ITC’s Executive Director Ms Arancha González made the announcement during the gala evening and WTPO 2018 Awards presentation.

    She said the participating organisations went through a two-step rigorous assessment process, which was completely independent of ITC.

    Receiving the award on behalf of NEPC, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, executive director/CEO of NEPC, said he was humbled by the accomplishment.

    It is the first time NEPC will receive a World Trade Promotion Organisations award.

    NEPC won the award for the ‘Best initiative to ensure that trade is inclusive and sustainable’, competing with firms from Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria and Peru.

    The World Trade Promotion Organisations Conference, jointly hosted by the ITC and Business France, took place on October 25 to 26, with over 80 trade organisations present.

    This year’s theme is Trade and Investment Ecosystems Delivering for Growth.

    NEPC entered the competition with its Zero to Export initiative. The ‘Zero to Export’ initiative trains exporters in the export process, provides advice on products and markets, and enhances marketing and management skills.

    The initiative, which trained 560 individuals and companies, has achieved results, including 22 million euros in potential sales to the European market where Nigerian companies had not previously been successful.

  • NEPC canvasses sustainability in local commodity export

    The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), said sustainable  export of local commodities will  boost the nation’s economy.

    It said, Nigeria as a major resource centre of raw materials for foreign  countries, has the capacity to increase output of agricultural products and other productive base materials that can contribute to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The South-South Regional Coordinator, of NEPC, Mrs. Azuka  Ikejiofor, stated this in PortHarcourt, during a stakeholders export  interactive forum on “Exporting Non-Oil Products from Nigeria .

    To achieve the target, she called for more focus in agriculture through empowerment of  farmers.   “ The way to revamp the economy is to diversify it through productive base. There are so many sectors in the productive base,” sying the first should be the development of agriculture.

    She said government should focus in empowering farmers and the farmers in turn, should form cooperatives and engage the services of government agencies to facilitate proper development of the local products, so that the products will gain international recognition.

    “When the productive base of the economy is developed and expanded, it will create jobs for the  unemployed youths and through it, funds will be generated that will further  improve the livelihood of the people and also contribute to the national GDP.

     

  • NEPC, Chamber woo American investors to non-oil sector

    THE Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has initiated a partnership with the Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) to generate American investment in the non-oil sector.

    Speaking at a meeting with NACC management in Lagos, NEPC Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Segun Awolowo said the initiative was designed to leverage Nigeria’s Diaspora market to broaden export windows for local industries.

    He said the collaboration would facilitate engagement opportunities between American and Nigerian industries under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), thereby encouraging expansion of production capacities, especially in the agriculture and textile industries.

    Awolowo said: “It is for us to leverage on NACC on how to increase trade in the U.S. and we are looking at the AGOA African Growth Opportunity Act which Nigeria has not been very high on. We want the chamber to help us facilitate more business to business meetings particularly from American companies and get them to invest in Nigerian industries so that we can increase production of our goods for export.

    “We are also looking at working with them on our programme called the Nigeria Diasporas Export Programme which leverages Nigerians in the Diaspora. We have used the Diasporas mainly as a point of remittance but we have to look at them as an economy in every nation in which they reside because they eat and buy clothes. So why can’t it be Nigerian ones, so there is a lot to do with the chamber increasing non-oil trade.

    “Our mission is to make sure that AGOA is private sector driven and work very closely with government to make sure that the AGOA strategy is signed and then we can activate and get clusters of exporters to harness then and earn foreign exchange for the country.”

  • NEPC, Malaysian group partner

    The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Nigeria, Malaysia Business Council (NMBC)  is partnering with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) to boost  trade and investment for the benefits of the two countries.

    NMBC President, Michael Aderohunmu, said the mutual co-operation will  boost trade and investment on both sides of the divide.

    Speaking during the establishment of the Nigeria-Malaysia Trade Corridor in Abuja, Aderohunmu said trade and investment are essential to drive businesses with capacity to galvanise resources from both countries to power sustainable economic growth.

    He said: “The world is changing rapidly we are talking about “Trade War”  and  (we) are witnessing “New Economic Order and Trade Re-alignments, therefore, we have so much to do to place Nigeria -Malaysia trade relationship on a high pedestal. We are placing emphasis on improved mechanism in trade and in exchange of goods and services mutually beneficial to our economies. The idea of establishing Nigeria-Malaysia Trade Corridor is to improve trade conditions, taking into account the interests of both countries.”

    He said the trade corridor will involve series of targeted products in sectors such as  agriculture, oil and gas and SMEs.

    The NMBC chief also stated that the trade corridor would lead to efficient service delivery and create wealth in sectors such as agriculture, particularly the oil palm and agribusiness development with innovative approach for value addition.

    Aderohunmu further explained that the trade corridor would also create durable and sustained partnership by investing in the oil palm value chain as agriculture forms the backbone of the Nigerian economy.

     

  • NEPC, ITC partner on empowerment

    The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), in collaboration with the International Trade Center (ITC), has entered into a deal to launch the SheTrade Commonwealth Project (SCP), Nigerian chapter, to make women significant contributors to the economy.

    Speaking at the SCP implementation workshop in Lagos, NEPC Executive Director/CEO, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said the initiative was aimed at connecting women to global trade.

    Awolowo said the partnership intends to correct the gender disparity in accessing resources for business start-ups and expansion as women entrepreneurs face challenges in getting credit and loans while their businesses have fewer employees and shorter business longevity.

    He said: “Over the years, there has been international discourse on the need to mainstream women in economic activities to curtail dysfunction that could degrade family incomes and wellbeing. It has also been argued that women’s contributions to the national economic building are hardly noticed since they are prevalent in the less productive sectors and are largely invisible in the global supply chain.”

    He observed that in Nigeria, women supply 70 per cent of agricultural labour, 50 per cent of animal husbandry-related activities and 60 per cent of food processing, yet they have access to only 20 per cent of available agricultural resources.

    Awolowo said the initiative,  launched in April, is funded by United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), adding that it was endorsed by UK Prime Minister, Theresa May during the opening of the Commonwealth Business Forum in London.

    Also, Senior Programme Officer at ITC’s Women and Trade Programme office, Mr. Nicholas Schlaepfer, said that the programme will ensure that women entrepreneurs in Nigeria receive support tailored to their specific needs allowing them to propel their existing market representation and secure greater access to global trade.

  • NEPC: FIIRO key to govt’s non-oil sector strategy

    Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Executive Director Olusegun Awolowo has said the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) is central to the Federal Government’s strategy to boost the non-oil export sector.

    Speaking in Lagos when he led a delegation of the agency to FIIRO to identify its research findings that are commercialisable and exportable, Awolowo stressed the need to move the country from an import dependent to an export economy. He said to do this, there was the need to work with FIIRO, which has virtually all the resources and technologies that are exportable.

    He said the relevance of FIIRO to revamp the economy could not be over emphasised, adding that as the hub of indigenous technology, it is prepared to boost the nation’s export earnings.

    The NEPC chief frowned at the export of raw materials without adding any value to them through processing. He  lamented that the country was yet to harness her petrochemical potential as well as the agro allied areas to increase her  foreign exchange earnings.

    Awolowo said NEPC’s Zero Oil Plan would help boost the country’s forex. He however forwned at the ignorance of parastatals not knowing what their counterparts are doing.

    Awolowo said the agency would need FIIRO’s wealth of experience to ensure that Nigerians in the Diaspora have a pool of investment opportunities that abound in FIIRO.

    FIIRO Director-General/CEO, Prof Gloria Elemo expressed gratitude to NEPC for believing in the technologies fabricated by the institute, adding that this would  further strengthen the ties between the two parastatals.

    She noted that the relationship would help improve the lot of youths for job creation and poverty eradication.

    Elemo said FIIRO is the home of indigenous technologies that can compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.

    The guests had a feel of FIIROs CASSY bread, which is a 20 per cent inclusion of cassava flour in wheat.

     

  • NEPC, LCCI set up panel on movement of goods in ECOWAS

    A committee, which comprises  the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been set up to enhance the movement of goods within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    At the committee’s inauguration  tagged: “Nigeria ECOWAS Export Development”, it was noted that the West African sub-region is a huge market with potential for growth if well harnessed by member states.

    According to the committee, the potential of export from Nigeria into the ECOWAS region can be seen in the items of import into the region from Asia, America and Europe.

    It listed the top 10 products being imported into the region from various parts of the world to include fuel, vehicles, tractors, cycles, machinery, mechanical appliances and boilers, cereals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fish and seafood.

    LCCI President Mr. Babatunde Ruwase noted that the forum presented an opportunity to review the state of economic integration in the sub-region, identify the challenges and proffer solutions, especially from the private sector perspective.

    He said: “For too long, private sector organisations and institutions have confined themselves to the comfort of their individual countries, while our counterparts in other parts of the world are advancing the frontiers of their economies and markets through integration.

    “In these days of the growing forces of globalisation, this individualistic disposition and outlook may not be sustainable. We need to broaden our perspectives and thinking beyond our individual countries. We should begin to develop not only national, but also continental and global outlook for our businesses and economies.”

    Ruwase emphasised the need to tackle current frustrating barriers to trade in the sub-region, noting that the trade treaties were not being implemented.

     

  • NEPC, LCCI to ease Nigeria’s export within ECOWAS

    A Committee  has been formed for ease of goods movement within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    In the committee are the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC),
    Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and regulatory agencies in the export sector, such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    At the committee’s inauguration  tagged: “Nigeria ECOWAS Export Development”, it was noted that the West African sub-region is a huge market with huge potential for growth if well harnessed by member states.

    According to the committee, the potential of export from Nigeria into the ECOWAS region can be seen in the items of import into the region from Asia, America and Europe.

    It listed the top 10 products being imported into the region from various parts of the world to include fuel, vehicles, tractors, cycles, machinery, mechanical appliances and boilers, cereals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fish and seafood.

    LCCI President Mr. Babatunde Ruwase noted that the forum presented an opportunity to review the state of economic integration in the sub-region, identify the challenges and proffer solutions, especially from the private sector perspective.

    He said: “For too long, private sector organisations and institutions have confined themselves to the comfort of their individual countries, while our counterparts in other parts of the world are advancing the frontiers of their economies and markets through integration.

    “In these days of the growing forces of globalisation, this individualistic disposition and outlook may not be sustainable. We need to broaden our perspectives and thinking beyond our individual countries. We should begin to develop not only national, but also continental and global outlook for our businesses and economies.”

    Ruwase emphasised the need to tackle current frustrating barriers to trade in the sub-region, noting that the trade treaties were not being implemented.

    He added: “Compliance levels are very low and commitment to the trade protocols is very weak. After 43 years of ECOWAS, we are still grappling with numerous tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.”