The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo yesterday urged stakeholders and practitioners in the non-oil export value chain to adhere to global best practices for their products to receive acceptability with zero export reject.
He said adherence to standards would also make their exports more competitive in the international market.
Speaking at the official launch of the Export for Survival (Export4Survival) Campaign which was initiated by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in Abuja, the minister said the success of the campaign needed the buy-in of all players in the non-oil export space.
Adebayo said the initiative remained a flagship theme of the council to drive the message of economic diversification as a route to achieving sustainable national socio-economic development through the export of non-oil products and services of Nigerian origin to regional and global markets.
He said, “As part of efforts at creating awareness on non-oil export development and promotion activities of the Council, there is no gainsaying the fact that with the Export4Survival campaign, significant mileage would be gained in the volume and value of exported Nigerian products and services.
“It is also envisaged that with the launch of this campaign, more activities would be seen to be taking place in the non-oil export ecosystem that would increase foreign exchange earnings into Nigeria.”
The minister, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, congratulated NEPC, under the leadership of Dr. Ezra Yakusak for the laudable initiative and the commencement of the maiden edition of the Export Week which was aimed at sensitising the business community on the inherent benefits in the non-oil export sector of the economy.
Earlier, the NEPC boss said the council believed in its that vision to rejuvenate the country’s fragile economy adding, however, that this cannot be achieved by the council alone.
He said, “It is against this background that we conceived the Export4Survival campaign as part of a strategic initiative to increase the awareness of opportunities in the sector and benefits of exporting Nigerian goods and services to the overall growth of the economy. The idea is to stimulate Nigerians to imbibe the export culture.
“Today’s event signals the beginning of our commitment to reposition the operational activities of the council which is in line with the mandate to develop and promote the non-oil export sector as a key driver of the diversification agenda of the present administration.
“Indeed, it further complements the NEPC brand positioning strategy given the current economic realities on the ground. Therefore, to ensure we achieve these objectives, it requires that all hands must be on deck as we go through this arduous journey of making the non-oil export sector a significant contributor to the country’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”
Yakusak, also stressed that the campaign is a patriotic call on all Nigerians to realise the urgency of engaging in non-oil export trade as a viable means of economic growth, industrial development, and boosting our foreign exchange earnings.
He said the rebranding exercise was critical to realizing the council’s mandate as a Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) as well as repositioning it for better performance.
He said, “This is premised on the fact that over the years the NEPC has undertaken a series of branding activities from ‘We Grow at Home, to Sell Abroad’ to ‘Export Business, Tomorrow Business’ and now to the current campaign ‘Export4Survival’.
“The unique proposition of the present campaign underlines our resolve to change the narrative and position the non-oil sector as the only means of surviving as a nation.”
