By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said that Nigeria will commence the Export 774 programme with a target to identify exportable products in the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
This is as the country works towards boosting exports in the country after it recorded a total of 214 products exported from the shores of the country in 2022.
The Executive Director of NEPC, Mr Ezra Yakusak, said this at a conference organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) co in Abuja, themed The Role of the Non-Oil Sector Toward Economic Diversification, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth.
Mr Yakusak said that Nigeria exported that number of products due to value addition and good packaging.
The NEPC boss emphasised that proper packaging and value addition were critical to optimising the value of any product.
He said that adding value to produce and ensuring proper packaging would guarantee acceptability in the world market.
Mr Yakusak attributed the low value of agricultural produce from Nigeria in the international market to the raw state in which they are exported without processing and packaging to attract more financial value for them.
According to him, exporters will earn more revenue from their produce if they add more value to it.
“Nigeria is so blessed, we have so many products in this country that you will be amazed,’’ he said.
“We just realised that people are not aware of the products we have.
“We informed the world that we exported 214 products in 2022, and people were surprised that we had such products and we exported that much.
“So, because of that, at NEPC, the management has agreed to inaugurate a programme called Export 774’’.
“The Export 774 is targeted at identifying the products in all the 774 local governments of Nigeria.
“We identify them, we identify their potential, and of course, the specific places where they are cited.
“We will put them in a kind of compendium to compare two of those products before they are exported.
“Export 774 is one of the projects we are going to execute this year,’’ Yakusak said.
On his part, Mr Ifeanyi Onuba, the Chairman of CICAN, expressed the association’s optimism about the growth of Nigeria’s economy through non-oil exports.
According to Mr Onuba, recent developments have shown that the federal government’s drive for economic diversification from the oil to the non-oil sectors, given the volatile nature of crude oil prices, is yielding the desired results.
Modupe Gbadeyanka