14th January, 2015
Following the recent fall in global oil prices and the setback it portends for the country’s economy, the federal government is said to have marked out 13 National Strategic Export Products meant as alternatives to petroleum products to cushion the effect of dwindling oil revenue.
Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Investments, disclosed this during an unscheduled inspection and meeting with the Executive Director of Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo and members of the management team in Abuja.
Aganga emphasised that the initiative is geared by the need for government to revive the dwindling national economy with emphasis on rapid growth of the non-oil sector for exports.
The 13 National Strategic Export Products (NSEP) high marked according to Aganga are in three categories; agro industrial —palm oil, cocoa, cashew, sugar and rice); mining related —cement, iron ore/metals, auto parts/cars, aluminium and oil and gas industrial products —petroleum products, fertilizer/urea, petrochemical and methanol.
The Executive Director of NEPC was also said to have made a very strong case for the inclusion of cashew in the list. Thus increased the number of products high marked from the intial 12 products to 13.
Aganga charged NEPC to deploy its capacity for kick-starting the diversification of the country’s economy in line with the government’s agenda.
Aganga said he chose NEPC and SMEDAN for his first visit in the New Year because of their potential and strategic importance for diversification of the economy, job creation, poverty alleviation and inclusive growth.
“In doing this, we must recognize our neighbours’ developmental needs, support them and collaborate with them in areas of their comparative advantage. For you to have sustainable relationship there must be symbiosis in relationship. The new strategic focus is not just agriculture but rather commodities based industrialization. This will help our economy to diversify quickly. Such strategy will help build an industrial sector that can diversify our economy in just few years.