He said it translates to US$ 4.820 billion in non-oil export earnings for 2022, the highest in the agency’s 47- year history.
According to Yakusak, despite the harsh economic environment precipitated by the effect of COVID-19 and the global economic recession, it was cheering to note that the sector recorded a significant and highly impressive result with a non-oil export earnings of US$ 4.820 billion recorded for the year under review.
This represented an increase of 39.91% over 2021. The figures were gleaned from data collated from the various Pre-shipment Inspection Agents appointed by the Federal Government under the Pre-shipment Inspection Act, Cap P25 LFN 2004. “This current result lends credence to the fact that the several export intervention programmes/projects initiated and executed by the Council and other sister Agencies during the year under review are gradually yielding the desired result,” he said. Yakusak said that about 214 different products ranging from manufactured, semi-processed, solid minerals to raw agricultural products were exported in 2022. “Of these products exported, Urea/Fertilizer topped the list with 32.87%. The emergence of Urea/Fertilizer as the highest exported product in 2022 can be attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war which created an avenue for Nigeria’s Urea/Fertilizer to thrive. It is worthy to note that our products were exported to 122 countries with Brazil recording the highest import value of 12.27%.”
A breakdown of the non-oil performance shows the following: 1,172) exporters participated with Indorama-Eleme Fertilizer and Chemical Limited taking the lead with 23.25%. 31 issuing banks participated with Zenith Bank PLC processing the highest NXP values. 19 Exit Points were used with Apapa Port recording the highest tonnage. The month of December recorded the highest export value of 10.37%. The agency said that of the top 10 importers of Nigerian products, no African/ECOWAS country made it to the top 10. We at the NEPC are working assiduously to change that trajectory particularly in the wake of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). “The establishment of the Export Trade House Lome, the solo exhibition in Gambia, participation at the Lome International Trade Fair are deliberate initiatives aimed at boosting non-oil export within the ECOWAS sub-region. Put differently, there is need to increase intra-African trade given the huge opportunities and benefits therein,” Yakusak said.
He added that the NEPC is presently facilitating SMEs acquisition of international certification in order to access niche market with premium pricing under its “Go Global, Go for Certification” initiative. The programme is aimed at promoting the export of quality products from Nigeria thereby reducing the incidences of product reject in the international market. It may interest you to know that over 154 MSMEs across the country have so far benefitted from this initiative by acquiring the certification in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP|) and Food and Drug Administration. The certification process for 200 fresh SMEs have since commenced. According to Yakusak, the NEPC is also working with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment among other relevant MDAs embarked on a fact-finding mission to the United Kingdom (UK) as part of strategic effort to address the issue of export reject which constitute a major constraint to the growth of the non-oil export sector. The objectives of the fact-finding mission were to provide Nigerian export-regulatory and facilitating agencies the opportunity of observing the processes of agricultural commodities import procedures and interface with Port Health and Food Import Regulatory Agencies at the Border Control Points (BCPs) in the UK.
“To make Nigerian products competitive in the global market, the Council established three (3) Export Trade Houses (ETHs) – Cairo in Egypt, Lome in Togo and Nairobi, Kenya respectively. The ETHs are targeted at increasing Nigeria’s international market share and growth, enhance the visibility of Nigerian products as well as increase foreign exchange inflow and create employment for the teaming youths. May I also inform you that plans are underway to establish other ETHs in China, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries. This project is being executed under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) scheme. About 50 companies have so far exported vide the various Export Trade Houses.