Post by Trade facilitator on Jul 15, 2017 16:28:53 GMT 1
The non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, no doubt, occupies a prime place in the country’s quest for a paradigm shift from a mono-cultural economy, largely driven by revenue from crude oil sales, to a robust, diversified and non-oil dependent economy.
It was in recognition of the untapped abundant potential of non-oil sector of the Nigeria economy that the federal government through the Nigeria Export Promotion Act No 26 of 1976 established the Nigeria Export Promotion Council in other to promote the development and diversification of Nigeria’s export trade. The NEPC Act, which was subsequently amended by Decree 72 of 1979, 41 of 1988, also vested in the council the sole responsibility of implementing export policies, among other things.
Also, in furtherance of its efforts towards diversifying the country’s revenue base through non-oil exports, the Federal Government, through Act No 63 of 1992, established the Nigeria export processing zones authority to license, monitor and regulate the activities of free zones and enforce compliance to extant rules and regulations on their operations.
So far, NEPZA has licensed more than 30 Export Free Trade Zones across the country with over 40 companies operating in them. Although the NEPC and NEPZA have embarked on several projects at boosting the nations on non-oil drive, investigations however revealed that revenue generated from the non-oil exports is still on the decline.
According to the findings on a report on the non-oil sector to the Nigerian economy, which was released by an independent group, the total income generated from non-oil exports from January to June 2016 stood at less than $800m, while total amount that accrued to the country from the sector in 2015 was about$2.7 billion.
Many observers have blamed the development on lack of adequate standardization of the country’s export products and paucity funds to enable exporters engage in meaningful export-related projects. They noted that the Nigeria export promotion council was working in partnership with the standard organization of Nigeria and the national agency for food, drugs administration and control to address the problem of poor standards which had become the bane of the country’s export commodities. In addressing the prevailing problem of non-access to funds by exporters, the NEPC have partnered the Nigerian export import bank to provide relief by connecting them to cheap sources of finance. The standardization of the Nigeria’s export products has been a major hindrance to non-oil export. As part of efforts to develop the untapped potentials in the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, the federal government has since made new in-roads in repositioning pineapple, gari, yam, etc, export.
Meanwhile, Nigerians exporters have blamed the continued decline of the country’s non-oil revenue on the inability of the federal government to fully exploit the opportunities in areas such as services export and the African growth and opportunities act.
Investigations by this writer revealed that since the establishment of AGOA by the United States of American Government, Nigeria is yet to fully maximize the benefits therein. In 2009, 37 companies under the scheme exported $37.7 million and #282.224 worth of various products to the US.
The poor response of Nigeria’s entrepreneurs to AGOA is attributed to the non-competitive business environment they operated in. These include lack of functional infrastructure, high cost of funds and a myriad of taxes which have resulted in increasing cost of production. Another major challenge confronting non-oil export trade in Nigeria even today is the difficulty in accessing the required funds by exporters for their international transactions.
An exporter, Chief Tunji Bamisaiye, said that as part of efforts to gear-up revenue and boost economic growth and development in Nigeria, the federal government through its concerned agencies should intensify efforts towards creating more awareness on abundant but untapped opportunities in non – oil exports sector, especially in the area of service export.
In truth, a lot has been written and said about service exports. The reality however, is that although trade-in-service is globally growing astronomically, public understanding of the subject still remain not catching on fast enough.
It was in recognition of the untapped abundant potential of non-oil sector of the Nigeria economy that the federal government through the Nigeria Export Promotion Act No 26 of 1976 established the Nigeria Export Promotion Council in other to promote the development and diversification of Nigeria’s export trade. The NEPC Act, which was subsequently amended by Decree 72 of 1979, 41 of 1988, also vested in the council the sole responsibility of implementing export policies, among other things.
Also, in furtherance of its efforts towards diversifying the country’s revenue base through non-oil exports, the Federal Government, through Act No 63 of 1992, established the Nigeria export processing zones authority to license, monitor and regulate the activities of free zones and enforce compliance to extant rules and regulations on their operations.
So far, NEPZA has licensed more than 30 Export Free Trade Zones across the country with over 40 companies operating in them. Although the NEPC and NEPZA have embarked on several projects at boosting the nations on non-oil drive, investigations however revealed that revenue generated from the non-oil exports is still on the decline.
According to the findings on a report on the non-oil sector to the Nigerian economy, which was released by an independent group, the total income generated from non-oil exports from January to June 2016 stood at less than $800m, while total amount that accrued to the country from the sector in 2015 was about$2.7 billion.
Many observers have blamed the development on lack of adequate standardization of the country’s export products and paucity funds to enable exporters engage in meaningful export-related projects. They noted that the Nigeria export promotion council was working in partnership with the standard organization of Nigeria and the national agency for food, drugs administration and control to address the problem of poor standards which had become the bane of the country’s export commodities. In addressing the prevailing problem of non-access to funds by exporters, the NEPC have partnered the Nigerian export import bank to provide relief by connecting them to cheap sources of finance. The standardization of the Nigeria’s export products has been a major hindrance to non-oil export. As part of efforts to develop the untapped potentials in the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, the federal government has since made new in-roads in repositioning pineapple, gari, yam, etc, export.
Meanwhile, Nigerians exporters have blamed the continued decline of the country’s non-oil revenue on the inability of the federal government to fully exploit the opportunities in areas such as services export and the African growth and opportunities act.
Investigations by this writer revealed that since the establishment of AGOA by the United States of American Government, Nigeria is yet to fully maximize the benefits therein. In 2009, 37 companies under the scheme exported $37.7 million and #282.224 worth of various products to the US.
The poor response of Nigeria’s entrepreneurs to AGOA is attributed to the non-competitive business environment they operated in. These include lack of functional infrastructure, high cost of funds and a myriad of taxes which have resulted in increasing cost of production. Another major challenge confronting non-oil export trade in Nigeria even today is the difficulty in accessing the required funds by exporters for their international transactions.
An exporter, Chief Tunji Bamisaiye, said that as part of efforts to gear-up revenue and boost economic growth and development in Nigeria, the federal government through its concerned agencies should intensify efforts towards creating more awareness on abundant but untapped opportunities in non – oil exports sector, especially in the area of service export.
In truth, a lot has been written and said about service exports. The reality however, is that although trade-in-service is globally growing astronomically, public understanding of the subject still remain not catching on fast enough.
