Olusegun Awolowo, the Executive Director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, said on Friday that Nigeria’s exports appreciation by 3.2% confirmed that the sustained effort of the Buhari’s Administration at economic diversification is paying-off.
His reaction was based on the recent release made by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)on Nigeria’s economy.
Awolowo made this remark on Friday while reacting to the Q22017 report on Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics’, in a chat with journalists.
According to him, “this is proof that the economy has indeed recovered fromrecession and is on its way to sustainable growth as envisioned by theadministration of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR in the recentlylaunched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP)”.
The report, which covered seven sectors, namely; Agriculture, Oil & Gas, Raw Materials, Solid Minerals, Manufactured Goods, Energy and other Oil related goods putsNigeria’s total export value at N3.1 Trillion in Q2, 2017 represented an increase of 3.2% over Q1 2017 and a very significant 73.48% over Q2 2016.
Awolowo pointed out that the economic slowdown which began in 2014 was mainly as a result of shortfall in Nigerian exports, which fell by more than NGN8 trillion a year dueto the crash in oil prices. As expected, we therefore see a strong correlationbetween economic recovery and improved export trade .
“I am therefore happy for the achievement of Trade Surplus due to exports. You may recall that in the corresponding period in 2016, our trade balance stood at a deficit ofN572.12bn.
The statistics released this week shows a trade balance surplus of N506.5bn for Q2 2017,he said.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC),it would be noted focuses entirely on leveraging the power of exports to transform the Nigerian economy, create jobs, lift people out of poverty, and strengthen the government’s finances.
Awolowo noted that in Q2 2017, the continued strong performance of key agricultural products central to driving the future export agenda in the sector – Cashew nuts alone earned Nigeria NGN13.5 billion, primarily exported to Vietnam, India, and Kazakhstan. Sesame earned NGN7.02 billion, exported mainly to Japan, India and Turkey.
Frozen Shrimps and Prawns earned over NGN2.83 billion,exported mainly to Netherlands, Belgium, and USA. Flour and meals of Soyabean earned NGN2.31 billion, exported mainly to Spain, Ghana and Senegalwhile Ginger earned NGN633 million, exported mainly to Vietnam, Moroccoand Sudan.
Other export products with strong growth potentials especially in themanufacturing sector include Cigarettes containing tobacco to Ivory Coast,Niger, Ghana; Cement to Niger and Chad Republics; Cocoa beans and itsderivatives to several countries.
He remarked that the NEPC efforts in the coming months will be to deepen Nigeria’s product penetration into these and other countries; and toradically increase the volume and value of our sales.
” Although oil continues to dominate our exports with crude accounting for42.57% and other oil products 21.86%, the future of our economy is beyondoil as clearly laid out in the ‘Zero Oil Agenda’ which is central in the NigerianEconomic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP)”he adds.
HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA
