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The Executive Director of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nonye Ayeni, has credited the $5.456 billion contribution to economic diversification last year, a significant increase of 20.77 per cent compared to $4.517 billion recorded in 2023, for the growth of the non-oil sector.
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Speaking recently on the Non-Oil Export Performance for 2024, Ayeni said the effort and commitment in achieving the goal were through effective collaboration with other relevant sectors, especially agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing.
According to her, there was an increase in the volume of agricultural commodities as non-oil export returns.
“About 7.29 million metric tonnes of products were exported in the period under review. The result for 2024 would have been much more considering that the volume of Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT) represents a reasonable percentage of our exports which goes unreported,” she said.
Ayeni said that a total of 246 distinct products were exported last year, spanning manufactured, semi-processed goods, industrial extracts and agricultural commodities while 32 banks participated in the processing of Nigeria Export Proceed (NXP) Forms for export.
“With a total number of 21,655 NXP forms processed, Zenith Bank led, contributing 39.03 per cent to the total number of NXPs for non-oil export,” she said.
She encouraged other banks to support exporters, adding that this would provide affordable finance to help increase export. “It would also stimulate value-addition, thereby increasing FX earnings. Value addition to our export products is key as they attract proper pricing in the global market,” she said.
She said exporters can scale up production if they have access to affordable finance.
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