By Joe Itah
FEATURE IN BRIEF
The non-oil export, if adequately funded, is the tool to drive Nigeria’s quest to be among the world’s 20 largest economies by year 2020.

AT the risk of sounding like a broken record, the story of how Nigeria had once relied majorly on agriculture and agricultural commodities for her foreign exchange earnings and later turned to place all her hopes on oil, often awash discussions in circles, and even the media.

These stories started featuring very well when the oil boom of late 1960s and early 70s suddenly turned to oil doom – as the key focus of virtually all citizens remained with the ‘black gold’, making the country to be a mono-product economy.

Apart from the various intermittent strides of different regimes, the Nigerian government, in 1999, embarked on a strategy to chart a new economic agenda for the country. Tagged Vision 20:2020 (NV20:2020), with the aim to rapidly raise Nigeria to the league of the world’s top twenty economies by 2020, the current administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not renege on this decisive stand but rather reiterated its unshaken commitment to actualize the vision.

It was in support of this thinking, and, in line with the mandate given to Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) – to develop and promote non-oil exports- that a partnership idea was drawn between the Council and Koinonia Ventures Limited (a wholly Nigerian export consulting firm) on enhancing participation and performance in the sector through the programme, christened, Nigerian Non-oil Export Conference, Exhibition and Awards (NNECEA). NNECEA is an annual forum and platform for key players in the non-oil export sector, both private and public, to dialogue on trade policies, assess activities within the sector, weigh current challenges and proffer strategies to improve future performance – all with the single purpose of propelling Nigeria into the world’s top twenty economies by the year 2020.

The maiden edition of NNECEA was held at Abuja International Conference Centre in October 2010. Under a well attended event spanning three days, which saw comprehensive debates and ventilation of ideas – several recommendations were made on how to move the country’s non-oil sector to the next level, including:

* That the non-oil export sector must be acknowledged as one of the key drivers to achieving NV20: 2020;

* Product diversification is the key to Nigeria’s sustained economic development, hence, the continued near total dependence on crude oil as Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner must be discouraged given that it was an exhaustible commodity characterized by price fluctuation;

* Nigeria’s abounding potentials in human and natural resources including solid minerals, agricultural commodities and manufacturing were highlighted as veritable areas of investment, which would guarantee sustainable development, since they would provide wealth, create jobs and alleviate poverty.

Based on these recommendations, government was enjoined to:

* Decisively address the infra-structural deficiencies that challenged Nigeria ’s growth in the aforementioned areas;

* Continually negotiate bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements in relation to the country’s export trade;

* Intensify public/private sector partnership (PPP) to ensure the realization of national economic and industrial growth;

* Explore more creative ways of attracting funding to the non-oil export sector;

* Develop and implement a new Nigerian Non-oil Export Development Strategy to ensure consistency.

Meanwhile, in the course of institutionalizing NNECEA as an annual event in the ilk of the now famous yearly Oil & Gas Conference, there are arrangements to host NNECEA 2011. A boost and an enhancing formula – a pre-sensitization seminar was organized at three centres viz, Kano , Lagos and Port Harcourt, to announce the programme.

The theme of the trade event is ‘Getting it Right with Non-oil Exports’. It will have three plenary sessions in two days of conferencing, an exhibition running through the three days and an Export Presidential Award night where the best exporters of the year will be recognized and honoured. The conference will attract stakeholders from the non-oil export sector including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), leading exporters, banks, shipping lines, insurance companies, Chambers of Commerce and Industry including Government Agencies involved in the non-oil export trade. The event, being a gathering of stakeholders in the sector, will certainly offer opportunities for fresh business concerns and strategic economic linkages from local and foreign industrialists.

It is the overall intent of NEPC & KVL to use the platform of NNECEA to reposition the country’s economy through a viable non-oil exports sector. With NNECEA, Nigeria could be galvanized to represent a leading African example, of how non-oil exports can form the basis for enhanced economic performance, through improved public-private sector dialogue and partnerships and strategic national planning.

Economic analysts are of the view that Nigeria ’s progress and prospects have increasingly elicited interests in international economic circles.

Joe Itah is Head, Public Relations Unit of Nigerian Export Promotion Council.