The non-oil export products showed a remarkable increase in the last six months as available data show that Nigerians in the sector exported a total of 3.5 million metric tonnes of non-oil cargos between January and June of 2023.
Speaking during a panel session on the export of non-oil products at the 2023 Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar in Lagos, Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of NPA, said that NPA had been recording growth in export since 2019.
He said in 2019 the ports recorded about 2.8 million metric tonnes of export, and that it increased to 3.8 million metric tonnes in 2020.
According to him, export volume grew in 2021 to 3.79 million metric tonnes, and over 5.1 million metric tonnes in 2022.
He noted that NPA was working closely with other government agencies such as customs, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to ensure that imports and exports are cleared out of the port faster.
He said, “So, what we did was to create export processing terminals and the export processing terminals are one-stop shops where you consolidate, test, weigh, and pack it and then go straight into the ports. What the customs did for us is to create an export command. This means there are individuals responsible for all export problems that you can relate with.”
He further said NPA also created time belts for exports; created a lane for export to improve the speed of moving export to the port and that the Lagos State Government had been working with them to enforce traffic regulations, especially along the port corridors, which helped to reduce congestion.
Confirming the growth in export trade, Ezra Yakusak, Executive Director/CEO of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), said Nigeria had a non-oil export performance of $4.8bn in 2022, which was the largest since the creation of NEPC in 1976.
He said, “We exported 214 products, which means that Nigeria has huge potential. About 1,122 companies exported to 122 countries. Last year, there was an increase of about 39.6 per cent in the export of manufactured products, meaning that Nigerian export is changing from being mostly raw materials to becoming processed or manufactured products.”
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