Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Segun Awolowo, said weekend that Nigeria could in the next 10 to 15 years, earn about $150 billion from non-oil revenue sources.
Awowolo stated this while speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the successful implementation of a zero oil plan will increase significantly foreign exchange earnings for the country.
Awolowo, who stated that he was at the villa to brief the President on the zero oil implementation plan and the steps taken so far to realise it, explained that although global oil prices were on the rise because of Iran, there was still problem for countries, such as Nigeria, which depend completely on the sector for revenues.
He said: “What we hope to achieve is to raise more revenue for Nigeria from other sources. You know 90 percent of our revenue is from oil and we cannot survive.
”But we we should not rest on our oars because, those days of $140 per barrel is gone forever. So we have to look inwards and produce more.
“The zero oil plan is about raising production and productivity, we identified 22 sectors where we can earn foreign exchange apart from oil. We are hoping that in the next 10-15 years we will be able to raise $150 billion from sources outside oil.”
He noted that most of the products in the country were no longer substandard, stressing that the Federal Government, through the NEPC, was working and galvanizing the support of states in order to raise production and productivity.
He said: “We are working with the relevant MDAs to achieve this. You know the CBN just announced an initiative farmers of five of our products, giving them low interest rates to farm and raise production.
“Our products are no longer substandard and we are exporting all over West Africa and Inter-land Africa. We have a few challenges here and there but I always tell people, the journey of processing raw materials to producing goods is not going to happen over night. We are going to have rejects but we will not succumb to them.
“Our packaging is improving and we are even packaging and labeling in different languages so we can get into those markets, particularly when Africa opens up for us now.
“For instance, you know we use to send our goods to West African countries but you know we are surrounded by francophone countries and we don’t even label our products in French.”
Noting that government was embarking on series of port reform to also avoid wastage, the NEPC boss said: “We don’t have wastage with cashew because we are moving them through the ports and you are aware government has declared a state of emergency on Apapa Port.
“But in storage, we are looking at aggregation centers and it is part of the zero oil plan. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, has put two giant aggregators in place for processing, which is very important for us. If we are able to do that, we will be exporting all those things.’
Awolowo said the President was very pleased with his presentation by the NEPC, and commended President Buhari for paying the backlogs on the export expansion grant, an incentive given to exporters.
He said: “We owed them for several years but we have reversed the whole system and the president approved to pay the backlog of N350 billion to pay them.
“The National Assembly has appropriated and approved N190 billion out of it so far and we are paying it through the Debt Management Office (DMO). They will get certificate which they will use to cover their loans, debts, pay AMCON and pay taxes as well.”
