FG plans to grow non-oil export earnings
The federal government is planning to grow non-oil export earnings to $30 billion by 2025 to bridge the fall from oil exports.
This was disclosed by the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo, when he received in Abuja a team of Japanese investors.
Awolowo revealed that in 2014, Nigeria earned $2.7 billion from non-oil exports but that the value dropped to N1.6 billion in 2015.
The NEPC boss said the value for 2016 was not yet available, but would likely be lower than the figure recorded in 2015.
He said at the moment, Nigeria’s export earnings stand at $5 billion, including earnings from petroleum.
The export expert said Nigeria is currently in recession because it lost $30 billion from oil export earnings, adding that once that was bridged from non-oil exports, the country will have a vibrant economy that is zero-oil based.
He called on Japanese investors to invest in Nigeria, emphasising the opportunity in the Niger Delta for a second petro-chemical plant.
He revealed that the target is for Nigeria to position itself to get 5 per cent of total global export earnings.
He said the country has identified priority exports that will propel it into the global stage of exports with focus on high income generating exports in the country.
[DailyTrust]