A recent meeting in the
United States held under the auspices of Civil Society Network on African
Growth Opportunities Act exposed the poor preparation of Nigeria for the
diversification of its economy along the non-oil export sector.
Media
report continues:
The
President, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Chief Olabintan Famutimi,
gave the indication during a Fidelity Bank/NACC breakfast meeting themed,
“Driving growth in the non-oil sector.”
According
to him, the representation by Nigeria at the AGOA event, which sought to find
solution to Africa’s export challenges, was very poor.
He
said, “I have just come back from a three-week sojourn in the US, pursuing our
participation in the AGOA. There were two events in Washington on September 22
and 23. There was the Civil Society Network on AGOA that we participated in and
it was a sad commentary that Nigeria was just not represented.
“Other
African countries including the French speaking ones were very active at the
event. All of them were excited about what they had accomplished under AGOA and
we were really not represented.
“The
first day, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council was represented by a lady who
delivered a speech. The second day at the forum, Mr. Faleke represented NEPC.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment sent one representative who
showed up at the opening ceremony and then disappeared. We never saw him
again.”
According
to Famutimi, on September 26 when the US Department of State hosted an event to
promote cooperation between the US and African nations, the performance from
Nigeria was less than impressive.
“All
ministers from Africa responsible for managing AGOA were there and each country
was given time to report about the performance on AGOA in the past year.
“Nigeria
was not represented more or less because the Minister of Industry, Trade and
Investment was not there; his Permanent Secretary was there. Mr. Segun Awolowo
of NEPC was there. But when it was time for Nigeria to talk, it was the
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who spoke. Since Ngige is
not in charge of trade, he did not have a prepared speech on our performance.
All that was expressed was our hope for the future. He promised that we will
perform.”
Famutimi
said that oil, which formed the bulk of Nigeria’s export under the AGOA
programme was no longer viable and urged that the country must show more
commitment to the non-oil sector.
He
noted that oil was the product that made Nigeria’s export under AGOA robust,
adding that without oil, the country’s export was less than Lesotho’s.
In
his keynote address at the Lagos event, the Managing Director, Fidelity Bank,
Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, who was represented by the Executive Director, Commercial
and Consumer Banking, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, said that since the Federal
Government started the buy Nigerian products’ campaign, the number of people
applying to the bank for export business had more than doubled.
According
to Okonkwo, Nigerian food items should provide huge export potential, since
Nigerians are found all over the world and they like to eat indigenous food.
He listed clear understanding of the export market, procurement of a valid export contract, proper record keeping practices, improved corporate governance structures and processes as well as effective financial management system as key imperatives for non-oil exporters.
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