Executive Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Ezra Yakusak has estimated Nigeria’s non-oil export between January and June 2022 at about N2.5 billion, an increase of about 60 per cent in the last four years.
Yakusak told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance that about 200 different products involving 479 companies were exported from the country within the period from 16 different exit points.
He said the agency remitted about N121 million to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the government in the 2021 financial year as against the N67 million in the records of the Accountant General of the Federation.
There was, however, a disagreement between the committee and the Executive Director over the status of the N3.5 billion grant the agency received from the government for its operations.
While the agency said the money was meant for its operations in promoting export of Nigerian products, members of the committee insisted that the money form part of its Internally Generated Revenue which should have been remitted to the CRF.
Members insisted that the export facilitation function of the agency was already captured in its annual budget since the agency was fully funded by the government.
The Committee however agreed to hold a separate meeting with the agency to understand more its operations that necessitated the N3.5 billion grant, while also directing them to reconcile their records with the office of the Accountant General.
However, the Committee refused to take the submission of the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority for what it described as disjointed and unorganized presentation and asked them to go and repackage the document and reappear before them on Tuesday.
