The Federal Government is planning to generate $150 billion from non-oil exports as part of the country’s Zero Oil Plan (ZOP).
At the inaugural meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) Committee on Export Promotion held in Abuja recently, the Executive Director of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo, said the target can be achieved by increasing domestic production for export to all parts of the world.
Awolowo said the ZOP will also ensure increase in productive and export activities that will earn Nigeria 500,000 additional jobs annually.
He revealed that the NEC is working hard towards achieving the ZOP by first increasing production and then making export to all parts of the world possible.
The chairman of the committee, who is also the Governor of Jigawa State, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, said the country would concentrate on agricultural exports in order to achieve the zero oil export target.
Badaru said the committee is saddled with the responsibility of exploring viable means of producing and exporting several agricultural produce to other countries that will boost the country’s economy.
“We will be targeting crops like sesame seeds, cocoa, cashew nuts, shear nuts and hides and skins, vegetables and other agricultural products which Nigeria has comparative advantage in producing,” he added.
The committee is charged with the responsibility of drawing a workable plan to promote export in line with the Zero Oil Plan (ZOP) which seeks to replace oil as a major source of revenue and foreign exchange earner by improving non-oil exports from the current $5 billion dollars to $30 billion dollars by the year 2025.
