The Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum (NEF) has urged Nigerians to maximize the economic benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by engaging in quality packaging of the nation’s non-oil commodities for export.
The President of NEF, Dr Sidney Inegbedion, made the remark in Abuja during a leadership training on Good Corporate Governance, Market Access, and Value Chain Development organized by NEF for Heads of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria.
Dr. Inegbedion stated that the country needs to strengthen its capacity for processing for export purposes to African countries and other global communities that require Nigeria’s agricultural commodities.
“We realized that most of the members of these Associations are in the hinterlands with little or no education, but they are the people that produce what we eat and can be packaged for export, hence the need for sound leadership in line with the economic agenda of the present administration which tend to focus on agriculture.”
He, therefore, advised Governments to ensure infrastructural development for producers of agricultural produce to transport their products from rural areas to the city as well as create funding mechanisms to enable farmers to have access to low-interest loans to boost their productivity.
In his remarks, the National Auditor of Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Musa Wamba, commended Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum for the training saying it would go a long way to enhance the capacity of its members.
Wamba promised that FACAN would continue to collaborate with necessary stakeholders in boosting the productivity of its members.
