The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and members of the organised private sector have met in Abuja on strategies to improve the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy. Mr Femi Boyede, Technical Adviser to the Minister of Trade and Investment disclosed this to newsmen weekend.

Boyede said the meeting between NEPC and the private sector operators was to examine problems associated with Nigeria’s non-oil export promotion.

He said the meeting was to harmonise the private sector and NEPC position on the proposed programmes to promote export of Nigerian non-oil products. He said the meeting proposed a conference of stakeholders to examine the potential of Nigeria’s non-oil export with a view to organising an exhibition of products and recognise the sponsors of the drive. He announced that the conference has been scheduled for November.

Boyede said all relevant agencies of government would cooperate toward having a common understanding to boost the growth of the sector. According to him, the organisers are looking forward to the sponsorship of the event because it will be a good platform to promote the advocacy of export of manufacturers’ products, including new ones. ‘‘

The annual meeting is to provide the basis where all the players in the non-oil sectors will meet to address and chart action plan for the next 12 months. By its concept, the Nigerian non oil export exhibition and award is actually a platform for public and private sector to collaborate and dialogue on issues concerning the non oil export in Nigeria. ”

Boyede explained that the exhibition would showcase not only existing export products and services but also potentials and services. He said the organisation would focus on specific countries to attract either existing or potential trading partners.

He added that the European Union delegation in Nigeria, the ECOWAS Commission and other trading groups of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria were partners in the project.

Stakeholders fault NERC plans to increase electricity tariff

Some stakeholders in the power sector on Friday decried plans by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to further increase electricity tariff by January. They said in Lagos that any increase in tariff without commensurate improvement in power supply would not be appropriate.

Mr Hafeez Ajibade, General Secretary of Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), said that the government should improve electricity supply before increasing the tariff.

According to Ajibade, government should complete the power sector reforms as scheduled before increasing the tariff. “Consumers cannot bear the pain of continuous increase in tariff when supply and infrastructure are not adequate and efficient,” he said.

Mr  Folorunsho Oginni, Chairman of Lagos Chapter of PENGASSAN, said that incessant increases in tariffwithout addressing challenges of supply would not solve the power crisis.Oginni said that emphasis should be on ways to revamp the moribund power distribution system.

“The power distribution system is in bad shape. Even if PHCN provides 24-hour power supply, there will still be problems because the infrastructure needed to be replaced,” he said. The union boss advised the NERC to increase the tariff gradually whenever supply was stable.

Mr John Adebayo, Services Project Manager in HUAWEI, a power firm, said that increasing electricity tariff would compound the problems facing the industrial sector. “We all know that we need to pay more for electricity if it gets better, but not at this time.

What the government should be particular about now is the full implementation of the reform of the power sector that was launched on Aug. 26, 2010,” he said.

He wondered what would happen to consumers who regularly got “crazy bills” for services not rendered. Adebayo said the inability of PHCN to provide constant electricity supply had forced many companies to relocate to neighbouring countries where power supply was stable.

He said that the tariff review could only be justified if PHCN could guarantee consumers 24- hour power supply in a day. Adebayo, however, gave kudos to the Federal Government for providing timetable for the implementation of the privatization.

Mr Abiodun Ogunleye, Managing Director of PowerCap Ltd, a power consulting firm, said that the tariff increase was well intentioned, but that NERC must evolve all mechanisms to make power supply more stable. He said that government was losing a lot of revenue due to problems of generation, transmission and distribution.

He said that there was the need to increase tariff to attract investors. “Besides, the agencies in charge of electricity supply and privitisation should get it right this time to avoid recycling of ideas and human resources,” he said. PHCN just increased the tariff to N21 per unit of energy consumed for residential buildings and N66 for commercial buildings in July.

SON tasks SMEs on quality products

Dr Joseph Odumodu, the Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), on Friday urged Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to produce goods that would meet global standards.  Speaking in an interview with newsmen Odumodu said that many companies in the country collapsed because they produced inferior goods.

According to him, a lack of funding should not hinder an entrepreneur from running a business successfully. He said that businesses collapsed easily because of their lack of depth in concept and quality of products, advising indigenous entrepreneurs to ensure that they met the required standard to enable them compete favourably with imported products.

Odumodu said that it was only by producing standard goods that smuggling and importation of prohibited goods would cease, noting that because SMEs were the engines driving the economy, they should embrace best standards to enhance their chances of competing in the international market.

“SMEs are the key to growing this economy. The challenge we have today is that they also need to embrace standards because if they embrace standards, they stand the chance of exporting their goods and their goods also stand the chance of sharing the same quality advantages even for the big multinationals.

“I have never seen where finance has stopped an entrepreneur from successfully doing business, what does stop people is either the ideas or concept and of cause the quality of the products that they create. ” He said that adequate funding of the agricultural sector would guarantee the availability of raw materials for production of goods locally for export.

Odumodu commended the Federal Government for financing the SMEs through the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria. He, however, called on the government not to relent in its fight against smuggling. “Smuggling is a bad business.

People should be discouraged from doing it and I think we need to use a much stronger punishment regime so that if people smuggle and they are punished, and people see they are punished, others will be deterred. ”