The Federal Government has concluded plans to establish the Export 774 programme as part of efforts to optimise the potential of the non-oil sector. The programme, which is championed by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), is also aimed at identifying exportable products across the 774 local government areas (LGAs) to harness them for exports.
NEPC Executive Director. Dr. Ezra Yakusak, revealed this while speaking on additional efforts put in place by the agency to improve the country’s foreign exchange earnings. He spoke in a telephone chat with The Guardian in Abuja.
Yakusak explained that apart from the One State One Product (OSOP) programme, Export 774 was inspired by the huge success recorded in the exports of Nigerian products last year.
“The overall target of this programme is to identify the products in all the 774 LGAs in Nigeria, create awareness of their potentials and showcase the specific places where they could be sourced,” he said.
He also revealed that NEPC, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC), has commenced consultation on the introduction of export promotion as a course of study in the universities as part of its export-for-survival campaign.
“This intervention is propelled by the need to inculcate basic exporting knowledge and skills to Nigerians in various tertiary institutions,” he disclosed. The course when introduced to identify schools, he pointed out, has the potential of making young graduates self-employed.
