Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has called on Nigerian exporters to acquaint themselves with the use of modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in their business operations to enable them compete favourable in the world market.
Olusegun Awolowo, executive director of the commission, stated this at a day workshop on “Appropriate ICT Tools for Export” tagged “Leveraging on Online Marketing Tools for Visibility and Sales,” which was organised for exporters in Enugu by NEPC.
He emphasised that the training was part of the council’s effort in developing and promoting non-oil exports sector and to increase the viability, visibility of Nigerian exporters in the global market.
The chief executive, who was represented at the occasion by the NEPC regional coordinator “NEPC Office” Enugu, Gertrude Ukoanam, observed that limited knowledge of ICT and other mix-up in documentation largely play a big setback in export trade in Nigeria.
According to the NEPC boss, the workshop was planned to expose Nigerian Exporters all over the country to a number of tested on-line tools that make export business easy and also “sensitising the exporters and keeping them abreast with the latest ICT tools to enhance their competitiveness in market place.
“Let me mention that a recent report from the World Bank listed Nigeria as one of the countries in the world with the highest cost of doing business. The immediate reason adduced for this is the increases application of manual process.”
He called on the participants to pay attention to the resource person who are carefully selected professionals in ICT to make the workshop a success.
Some of the participants who spoke to BusinessDay expressed happiness saying that the workshops were an eye-opener to exports. They believed that many lost substantial amount and ideas but to lack of information and called on government to make such workshops regular.
