The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said the failure of exporters to get relevant documents is a major reason Nigerian products are rejected when exported.
The Executive Director of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, during a workshop on how medium small scale exporters can seek financing in collaboration with Zenith Bank Thursday in Abuja, said it has launched programmes that exporters can access to facilitate the export of goods.
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He said the intervention was made because Nigeria needs export of goods to survive due to the shrinking revenue from crude oil.
“We have launched The Export Development Fund (EDF) and Export Expansion Grant (EEG) to prospective exporters and seasoned exporters. These are two major incentives being offered by NEPC to ensure that Nigerian exportable products are competitive overseas.
“However, since EEG is a post-shipment finance, exporters need more access to pre-shipment financing and credit facilities, which could assist to strengthen their financial base and ramp up production and processing,” Yakusak said.
He added that the recent CBN interventions, especially the RT200 export repatriation incentive scheme, is expected to provide an additional source of funding for active exporters.
Speaking, the Director of Product development Department of NEPC, Williams Ezeazu, advised exporters to produce their products with high quality to compete well with other countries.
He said with other countries producing what they export, they need to get a certification from different bodies for their products to be considered above others.
On his part, A Deputy General Manager of Zenith Bank, Carl Akwarandu, said with the new CBN policy on Forex generation, the bank is offering different financial schemes exporters can explore to enable them to bring dollars into the country.