The Federal Government has concluded in its plan to generate over $30 billion within the next 10 years from non-oil exports to diversify the economy, Segun Awolowo, Executive Director of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has said.
Awolowo, who in an exclusive interview with DAILY INDEPENDENT, said the zero oil plan of NEPC has received enormous support and has been integrated in the economic recovery and growth plan of the Federal Government, added that the National Economic Council (NEC) has set up a national committee on exports to drive it.
Speaking on how the agency has perfected plans to scale up Nigeria’s non-oil exports to meet international standard, Awolowo gave the assurance that Nigeria can get over $30 billion in terms of non-oil export as projected despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
He said: “We cannot run an economy that 90 percent of our earnings come from crude oil. It is just not working, and that was what we experienced when the world oil prices stood low worldwide in the past before we went into first recession.
“So, the 10 years’ time frame we are looking at to get to $30 billion is sacrosanct, but we must be consistent, we must invest more in the non-oil sector than looking for oil.
“The entire world is now raising a lot of concerns about the long-term devastating impacts of oil and focusing on climate change.
“The unpredictability on oil prices will not stop because first in 2008, oil price crashed due to global financial crises; then in 2014 oil price crashed due to shale over production; then in 2020, oil price crashed due to COVID.
“We have seen a return to a positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in last quarter of 2020. We have now seen strong recoveries in agriculture (growth of 3.4 percent) and services, and those sectors put a lid on 2020 declines.”
It would be recalled that in 2015, Awolowo announced that NEPC would launch a zero oil plan to promote non-oil products in Nigeria.
