Nigeria must adopt a concerted strategy to diversify its exports beyond oil as the country positions itself to capitalise on emerging global opportunities, a leading economist has said.
    
This was the view of the Chairman of the Board of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Opeyemi Agbaje, in a recent interview, where he stressed that export diversification represents a historical opportunity that requires focused policy attention to drive sustainable economic growth.
  
Agbaje highlighted export diversification as one of two critical areas requiring immediate government focus, alongside diversifying government revenue sources away from oil dependence.
  
“The big area, which I want a concerted policy focus on is exports, because that’s a historical opportunity. We’re already seeing increased commodity exports, but now there has to be a strategy around it and a concerted push around it,” he said.
 
He noted that successful export diversification would create a dual benefit for the Nigerian economy. “If we can grow exports, we’re growing revenues. Those are the two main sources of diversification we need. We need to diversify our exports away from just oil and diversify government revenue away from oil also.”
 
Acknowledging challenges that could impact export diversification efforts, including food inflation driven by insecurity and logistics issues, he emphasised that addressing fiscal drivers and infrastructure investments would be crucial for sustained progress.
 
He maintained an optimistic outlook for Nigeria’s economic prospects, predicting continued GDP growth and declining inflation in the medium term. However, he stressed that realising the full potential of export diversification would require addressing sophisticated challenges, including security concerns, political risk perceptions and regulatory barriers across sectors.