Promoting Non-Oil Export: Relevant Agencies Must Work Together – ‘Femi Boyede

By Adebote 'Seyifunmi
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Trade support institutions in Nigeria have been encouraged to synergize and break the bottlenecks that have thus far hindered Nigeria’s non-oil export sector from breaking forth. This was part of a presentation made by Mr. Olufemi Boyede (CITP/FIBP) Managing Director/CEO of Koinonia Ventures Limited during a 2-day Export Readiness Workshop – KoinEx, with the theme “Exporting your way out of Recession” in Abuja.

It was proposed that “a single window should be created, thereby making it possible for ready exporters to walk into one of the relevant agencies, for example, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council and fulfil all the requirements needed by sister agencies rather than hopping from one agency to another, repeating similar registration processes over a long period of time”. Identifying other factors that have thwarted non-oil export in Nigeria, Mr. Boyede urged exporters to pay detailed attention to the quality of products to be exported especially in the area of packaging among other little but significant areas; he praised the effort of the present administration towards revamping SMEs activities across the nation and called for speedy actions towards the actualization of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and other incentives that exporters require.

Another facilitator at the workshop, Professor Ken Ife of Lead Consultant, revealed how profitable export business is and the potentials it holds to redeem the country of her many economic woes. Prof Ken giving the examples of the Asian tiger, called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to task relevant agencies to earmark targets for the export sector that must be achieved within a space of time, thereby keeping exporters and relevant agencies on their toes.

Some of the Trade Support Institution represented at the 2-day export Readiness Workshop includes the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) while logistics giants: Fedex/Redstar and KSP Logistics were present to guide exporters on the process of transporting exportable items without hindrances. According to the organizer of the event/COO, Koinonia Ventures Ltd, Mrs. Mayokun Akpoterabor, the next Export Readiness Workshop will hold in Lagos by April as the company is committed to preparing exporters across the country to excel in the export business by providing them with the required capacity and knowledge.

Adebote 'Seyifunmi
Nigerian,
Youth Advocate, Editor/Writer, Media Personnel.
@adebotes