Nigeria targets $30bn as Buhari signs Africa free trade pact

                            
The Federal Government said it has identified 22 products from none oil sector from which the country can earn $30,000 billion and create 500,000 export oriented jobs annually.

This is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union on AfCFTA and the First Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Niamey, Niger Republic.

Nigeria is the 53rd state on the continent to append its signature to the document.

Executive Director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Segun Awolowo, disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the weekend after briefing President Buhari.

The NEPC boss who briefed the president on the zero oil implementation plan after he was asked for an update said: “I briefed him on the setting up of national committee on export promotion by National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by the governor of Jigawa State and what we are working in order to diversify the economy.

“What we hope to achieve is to raise more revenue for Nigeria from other sources. You know 90 percent of our revenue is from oil and we cannot survive. Even though oil prices are rising a bit because of Iran, there is problem there. But we should not rest on our oars because, those days of $140 per barrel is gone forever. So we have to look inwards and produce more.

“The zero oil plan is about raising production and productivity, we identified 22 sectors where we can earn foreign exchange apart from oil. We are hoping that in the next 10-15 years we will be able to raise $150 billion from sources outside oil. That is what we are working on and we are galvanizing the whole states behind us in other to raise production and productivity. We are working with the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to achieve this. You know the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN just announced an initiative on five of our products and giving them low interest rates to farm and raise production.”


Awolowo said the sectors include cocoa, cotton, cement, leather, cashew, Sesame, Shea butter, palm oil, fertilizer, petrochemicals, rubber among others.

“Cocoa is an immediate win for us because, its been our number one none oil revenue making. But we are on less than 300,000 metric tons, Ghana is heading to 900,000, Cote d’ Ivoire almost two million metric. So, how do we compete? Meanwhile if you see the landmass in Nigeria you can imagine what we can do. Another sector is Shea nut, cashew is another breadwinner for us, so let’s raise production, let’s give our farmers, plantations low interest loan so that they can raise production for us. We are also looking at value addition for all because that is the way you create jobs, we cannot continue to sell the raw materials.”

Awolowo who said he presented to President Buhari some tomatoes and Bell peppers from a green house in Benin and Casanovas, cassava chips a cottage industry is producing in Idu Industrial Estate that is already being exported to Germany, added: “That is the future for Nigeria. We are about to enter into African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, which is the biggest in the world, we don’t want to be a dumping ground and that is why Mr. President refused signing until we are ready. We must be competitive, we must produce more, and we must help our manufacturers get into this market.”

On packaging and substandard products, the NEPC boss said: “Our products are no longer substandard and we are exporting all over West Africa and Inter-land Africa. We have a few challenges here and there but I always tell people, the journey of processing raw materials to producing goods is not going to happen over night. We are going to have rejects but we will not succumb to them. Our packaging is improving and we are even packaging and labeling in different languages so we can get into those markets, particularly when Africa opens up for us now.”