Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Godfrey Onyeama, has hailed the impact of the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Segun Awolowo, describing him as a man of boundless energy, who has made the agency one of the most successful in Nigeria.

The minister expressed this at the weekend when he paid a courtesy call on Awolowo in Abuja, where he was also honoured for his outsanding role as an Export Enabler by the NEPC Boss.

He disclosed this at the weekend when he hosted the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama on a courtesy visit to the NEPC Headquarters, Export House Abuja.

According to him, “: The NEPC remains a valued partner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and together we are transforming Nigeria in a very concrete and sustainable way. The future of Nigeria lies in trade and NEPC is strategically placed to help Nigeria trade its way from Pandemic to prosperity.”

He congratulated Awolowo on his well-deserved appointment as the first ECOWAS Trade Promotion Organization President saying that he is in a position to use his boundless energy and strategic skill to transform Trade in the region emphasizing that regional trade cooperation and integration are very important mechanisms and platforms so the ECOWAS and AfCFTA are game changers.

On his part, Awolowo hailed the tremendous roles of Nigerian Missions abroad, describing them as key export Enablers for the achievement of the Zero-oil plan.

He commended the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ achievements stating that Missions abroad have been instrumental in driving the penetration of Nigerian non-oil products in their respective countries of assignment.

According to Awolowo, some of the success stories included the drive for Nigerian Cuisine Beyond Borders, a book by Ambassador Eniola Ajayi, and the display of Cassanova Chips at the Nigerian embassy in Germany amongst other promotion activities being facilitated by foreign missions abroad.

The Zero Oil Plan is a blueprint for a strategic non-oil export led economic diversification agenda with an ambitious agenda that targets 20% of Nigeria’s GDP to be attributed to non-oil exports and aimed at the realisation of at least, $30 billion in non-oil exports by 2025 and creating 500,000 additional jobs annually.

While presenting the Outstanding Export Enabler Award to the Minister, Awolowo stated that the Award was in recognition of the collaboration between NEPC and the Ministry in driving the diversification of Nigeria’s export portfolio by deepening the ability of Nigeria’s foreign missions to facilitate export commercial diplomacy, collaborate on opening up foreign markets for Nigerian products, providing international trade administration to support Nigerian companies get into target markets and collaborating on setting up the Commercial Service Partner Programme.

The host went further to reel out significant initiatives that the agency is implementing to include: the Export Expansion Facility Programme (EEFP), which forms part of the Federal Government’s two trillion Economic Stability Plan.

Under the EEFP, the NEPC is working to set up Export Trade Houses for MSMEs in African regions and other emerging markets to enable consolidation and warehousing of exportable products in designated markets abroad.

“The Nigerian Diaspora Export Programme (NDEX) With over 140 million people of African origin in the Western Hemisphere and 15 million Nigerians in Diaspora, NDEX is designed to increase the value of non-oil export for national development.

“NDEX has 3-Broad Components namely:
Nigerian Cuisine Beyond Borders (NCBB)
Nigerian Heritage City (NHC)
Diaspora Export of Non-Oil Products (DENOP)

” Exports in services is a $4.7 trillion a year market, accounting for 19% of the world’s global export market. ICT contributes more than oil and gas to Nigeria’s GDP. More importantly the Services sector is the arrowhead of Nigeria’s participation in the AfCFTA, as Africa imported over $12 billion worth of ICT services in 2018. This is a huge opportunity for Nigeria under the AfCFTA”.

In looking ahead, Awolowo proposed steps to further facilitate export commercial diplomacy and open up foreign markets for Nigerian non-oil products key areas of Continuous support and cooperation on trade fairs/exhibitions and trade missions, NEPC purchase of some samples of made in Nigeria products to be displayed at Embassies.

This currently being done for South Korea, Philippines and Cambodia, assistance with due diligence checks for the Export Trade Houses gathering real-time market intelligence on opportunities for Nigerian non-oil products and services abroad among others.

He concluded that with continued partnership, support and better synergy, the NEPC and Ministry of Foreign Affairs will achieve the common national goal of inclusive socio-economic growth and development especially as the world and export market place has changed due to COVID-19 putting Nigeria’s non-oil products and services at the forefront internationally to move the Country from Pandemic to Prosperity.