The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has organised a workshop for over 60 operators of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in Osun State on how to make their products fit for export.
The workshop, which was held in Osogbo, was tagged ‘Facilitating strategic export market access programme in collaboration with the trade support institutions.’
The Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy Department, NEPC, Aliu Saddique, said the participants were SMEs owners with the potential to export to the international market.
He said the council was using the model developed by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries to train the participants so as to enable them to have a good understanding of the demands of the international market.
He said, “We have discovered that the European market is the toughest market. We are using the model developed by the CPI to train our SMEs for them to be able to operate at the international market.
“We are also targeting the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. It is meant to equip 60 selected SMEs that have potentials for export with all they need to know about it.”
The Osun State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Industries and Empowerment, Dr Bode Olaonipekun, called for serious planning ahead of the time when crude oil would no longer bring revenue for the country again.
Olaonipeokun, who also blamed the current economic hardship on the neglect of non-oil export, said planning for the era without oil must start immediately to avert economic crises.
