Experts advocate focus on non-oil exports as crude production dwindles

Experts in mining, manufacturing and other non-oil sectors of the Nigerian economy are calling for increased focus on sectors outside the energy industry as a key pivot of growth at a time when the country is struggling to restore crude production to pre-pandemic levels.

The stakeholders made the recommendation in Lagos at the 2023 National Policy Dialogue on Non-oil Exports, a roundtable that drew professionals from the private sector, the public sector, the media and regulatory agencies.

The think tank deliberated on a raft of barriers confronting the non-oil sector ranging from regulatory hurdles, logistic bottlenecks and port congestion to multiple taxation and corruption, and prescribed solutions which it hopes to present to the government for adoption.

“We are hopeful that the government will partner with us in implementing all the things that will make our exports competitive,” said Ahmad Rabiu, the president of the Network of Practising Non-oil Exporters Association of Nigeria.

“It is only when we churn out high-quality products at competitive prices in time that we will be able to compete with smaller countries around us in Africa, in Asia and in the rest of the world,” he added.

Aisha Abubakar, an erstwhile minister of state for industry, trade and investment, while giving her keynote address emphasised the urgency to ramp up non-oil exports as foreign exchange earnings face perennial pressure from the devaluation of the naira.

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“The ‘export for survival’ slogan of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council is clear on the need for Nigeria to implement its export development strategy as a matter of urgency,” she said.

“Indeed, there is no better time than now to qualitatively find solutions to challenges that are plaguing Nigeria’s non-oil sector from both the demand and the supply side and to create an enabling environment for the non-oil sector to thrive.”

Mrs Abubakar said Africa’s largest economy is still dominated by informal businesses that need to be formalised and transformed to measure up to the demands of international trade, adding that the task of non-oil export development does not rest on the government alone.

Nigeria’s non-oil exports grew by roughly 40 per cent in 2022, reaching a record $4.8 billion, according to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council. That translates to only one-tenth of the country’s export earnings, with oil contributing the rest.

A panel session at the dialogue advocated the need for watchdog agencies to concentrate on their core regulatory functions rather than get distracted by revenue generation, which is the mandate of the agencies they are overseeing.

The dialogue was facilitated by Talking Trade & Investment Global Canada and FemiBoyede Consulting with PREMIUM TIMES, Business Day and Dataphyte as media partners.

“Many of us turn regulatory responsibilities to revenue responsibilities. It is a hindrance to trade,” said Dere Nnadi, who represented the acting comptroller general of the Nigerian Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi.

“Those with regulatory functions should face regulatory functions. People are jumping into acts that are not found in their legal framework,” he added