The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), said it has developed a ‘zero oil’ plan that would increase Nigeria’s total value of world export in strategic sector in 10 years time by 5 per cent.It says earning from the country’s non-oil export revenue will increase from the present $2.7 billion to $25 billion by 2025, reviving the nation’s dwindling economic misfortunes and reducing its dependent on oil.
Olusegun Awolowo who is the Executive Director of NEPC, who disclosed this on Thursday in Benin, Edo state, at a one-day workshop tagged “Export Contract, the Legal Perspective,” said the fall in oil in world economy has decreased Nigeria’s economic fortunes and rendered foreign exchange almost useless.He was represented by Barr. Ezra Yakusak, stated that the council has developed a ‘zero oil’ plan that would increase Nigeria’s total value of world export in strategic sector in 10 years time by 5 per cent. “The zero plan is a coherent agenda to mobilize the public and private resources towards replacing oil as our number one resources of foreign exchange.
“Under this plan, Nigeria will position itself to gain at least a 5 per cent share of total value over the next 10 years to ensure sufficient scale of production and prevent sudden market distortions.“At the end of the ten years, it is hoped that our Non-oil export Revenue would increase from $27.7 billion to $25 billion in 2015,” he said.
Earlier in her speech, the Benin Zonal Coordinator of the NEPC, Mrs. Uduak Etokowoh, noted that the challenges currently facing Nigeria’s economy is a resultant effect of the total neglect witnessed in non oil export businesses. Etokowoh said the only way out of the Economic woes is through “imbibing the non-export culture” as the most viable option and efficient road map to the nation’s economic recovery. She therefore urged exporters and other stakeholders to embrace non oil export as an alternative to oil.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Edo state government on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, Mr. Daniel Akherenle, said the training will remind participants and broaden their horizon of legal perspective in the export industry.