The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it has identified 13 National Strategic Export Products (NSEPs) to replace oil in an effort to diversify the nation’s revenue base.
The council, on its website, stated that it was part of efforts to address the quest to increase the basket of exportable products from Nigeria following the dwindling oil revenue.
It stated that the NESPs, grouped under three categories, are agro industrial, mining related and oil and gas industrial products.
“For agro industrial it has palm oil, cocoa, sugar, rice and cashew while mining related are cement, Iron ore/metals, auto parts/cars, aluminum.
“The other oil and gas industrial products have petroleum products, fertiliser/urea, petrochemical and menthol,’’ it stated.
It added that with dwindling oil revenue, coupled with the quest to increase the basket of exportable products from Nigeria, the council had planned to launch the One-State-One-Product (OSOP) initiative.
According to the statement, the initiative is targeted at developing and promoting one product for export per state.
“Besides, the initiative takes cognisance of the country’s comparative advantage in terms of the vastness of its natural endowments.
It also considers “effort to diversify the nation’s revenue base, using the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP)’’.
It noted that the economic pundits and stakeholders in the sector believed that when OSOP became operational, it would shore-up the revenue of the 36 federating states.
It stated that in order to fast track the initiative, the council would have two-day capacity building programme for State Committees on Export Promotion and City Chambers of Commerce and Industries in all the states.
The project would develop the capacity and prepare stakeholders for the implementation of the plan, thus ensuring qualitative and quantitative products for non-oil exports, it stated.
It quoted the Executive Director of the council, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, as saying “the underlined objective of the programme include to upgrade the technical knowledge of the state committees”.
It will also “bridge the gap between the council and relevant stakeholders at the state level and equip them with non-oil export Project Management Skills covering techniques of export project formulation, monitoring and evaluation.
“This interface would enable participants to engage in effective partnership to NEPC in promoting the development of the non-oil export sector”.
It stated that the council appealed for support of state governments through opening of “Smart Offices” to ensure the sustainability and successful implementation of the state committees’ concept.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in March 2015, stakeholders in the non-oil export sector, represented by state committees on export promotion in the various states, met over techniques of non-oil exports in the country.
The meeting was tagged, “Techniques of non-oil export project formulation and implementation.”
