FG to Boost Non-oil Sector Earnings with Groundbreaking Export Processing Centres across Five States

As part of the federal government economic expansion programme, the Nigerian Export Processing Council (NEPC) has commenced the building of export processing centres across five states in the country in an effort to reverse the country's trade imbalance. The centres will help reduce product rejection encountered by Nigerian exporters in the international market, in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port-Harcourt and Kano. With NAHCO Aviance recipient of the NEPZ grant, the project, when completed in five months, will boost export potential of the country to about two million metric tons per annum. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony for the Lagos State project on Thursday, the Executive Director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Dr. Ezra Yakusak, said the country must continue to embark on projects that would reverse trade imbalance. Yakusak, who noted that the project was in line with the NEPC export survival campaign, said the only way out for Nigeria to survive economically was to export. He maintained that the non-oil sector remains a low hanging fruit for every Nigerians to plug into to gain foreign exchange in order to stabilise the economy. According to him, “We are very delighted that the NEPC grant, which assisted NAHCO, is working and is judiciously being used. I think we need to appreciate them because in some other balance, when these grants are given they will call it government money, and of course the story is a different thing. “I am so happy today that the grant that was given under the export expansion facility programme is working, and I assure you that in the next four to five months this building will be completed. Nigeria may not understand the importance of this, but when you hear the various cases of export rejection due to poor packaging, you will understand that we need this badly. “We do not need these in the regions we need it in every state because that is very key, and you will agree with me that if you know what is happening to the naira today, you would know that the only way out is non-oil export. We have two means of foreign exchange-the first one is diaspora remittances, while the second one of course is the foreign direct investment-and all these are affected by political and other economic issues. “Politically, if there is insecurity in the country, it will affect FDI, but that is not applicable to non-oil exports. Non-oil export is a cash cow and a low-hanging fruit that every Nigerian can plug in there and gain foreign exchange to stabilise our naira." The Chairman of NAHCO Aviance, Dr. Seine Oladapo Fadeni, said they are prepared to help NEPZ achieve its dream of boosting the export processing areas when the project is fully completed across the geopolitical zones. “We realised the fact that we need to boost the process of exporting Nigeria's products, especially agricultural products, so that we can have more FX and our dollar does not depend on petroleum products alone. “But one of the major challenges we have abroad is that our products are not well packed; not up to standard, and that is what we tend to do here. We put in everything possible to make sure that whatever passes through these warehouses is international."