By Joe ITAH
The Transformation Agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, like other policies by successive Governments, proposes to reposition the economy, through addressing, issues of poverty, unemployment, insecurity and most especially, diversifying the economy from total dependence on oil to a non-oil driven economy. It is in this regard that the Commerce Institutional Framework was re-engineered through the creation of the Trade & Investment Ministry. The essence was to pilot the National Implementation Plan (NIP) on the sector, with a view to transforming the economy for sustainable development.
It is obvious that for Nigeria to be among the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, Government, at all levels must accord other sectors of the economy apart from the oil, the needed attention. Based on this premise and in accordance to the core mandate of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) which is to develop and promote non-oil exports, a partnership was recently drawn with Koinonia Ventures Limited (a wholly Nigerian export Consulting firm) on enhancing participation and performance in the non-oil export sector, through a programme tagged Nigerian Non-oil Export Conference, Exhibition and Awards. This 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, weigh current challenges and proffer strategies to improve future performance . The maiden edition of the event was held at Abuja International Conference Centre in October last year. The second edition will hold at Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers from tomorrow to Friday November – 4. 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 a Presidential Export 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, leading exporters, banks, shipping lines, insurance companies, Chambers of Commerce and Industry including Government Agencies involved in the non-oil export trade. The event will certainly offer opportunities for fresh business concerns and strategic economic linkages from local and foreign industrialists. While the event would be officially opened by President Goodluck Jonathan, the sessions also have international participation and investors includin the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria , the Nigerian Ambassador in Spain , a delegation of European Union and the ECOWAS Commission. Economic analysts are of the view that Nigeria ’s progress and prospects have increasingly elicited interests in international economic circles.
For instance, a recent article in the July - August 2009 Issue of the Harvard Business Review, identified Nigeria to be among “30 of the World’s most important economies” given its ability to weather the current global financial crisis. Nigeria indeed, was the 7th fastest growing economy in the world in 2009 growing at 6.9%. Although the global financial meltdown undoubtedly, affected it as it did in several other countries, Nigeria is once more on the part of growth. The principal driver of this growth aside from our oil economy is the country’s non-oil exports. In spite of this, many still insist that Nigeria ’s enormous potential in this sector has not yet been exploited. With the over 36 commercially proven solid minerals in the country, coupled with the increase growth in the IT and services sub sectors , non-oil exports are expected to drive growth. One can therefore conclude that non-oil exports offer significant advantages for Nigeria ’s positioning and competitiveness in the global economy. For instance, previous Government policies aimed at encouraging improved export performance had not achieved the targeted objectives essentially due to poor dialogue between the public and private sectors.
It is hope that with the organization of the Nigerian Non-oil Export Conference, Exhibition and Awards, Nigeria would tap into the opportunity to make it realise its potential as the giant of Africa .
Source: FRCN daily commentary
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