The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) yesterday launched e-registration Website and e-registration booklet to reduce the volume of consignment leaving the country through informal exports.

Executive Director of the NEPC David Adulugba, said at the launch yesterday in Abuja that the quantum of goods leaving the country annually without documentation was worrisome.

Adulugba said the launch of the site – www.nepc.gov.ng – and the booklet was vital to the growth of the non-oil export sector.

He said the initiatives would enhance the process of registering products meant for export as well as assist in capturing data of the informal trade between Nigeria and other countries.

Adulugba said findings by the agency revealed that there were 48 loading points where goods were exported to other countries informally.

He expressed concern that more than three quarters of the goods leaving the country were informal, adding the agency was ready to tackle the problem promptly.

He said that normalising all informal exports would help to grow the economy.

Adulugba said NEPC had also established e-registration office at the headquarters to change the usual bureaucratic approach in government business as well as help in registering exporters and bringing the much-needed foreign direct investment to the country.

The NEPC boss said the initiatives would promote the council’s activities in all the available social network sites on the Internet.

He said the features of the e-registration include development of a database system for potential exporters to upload all the necessary and required documents on registration for the purpose of verification.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Export and Import (NEXIM) Bank, Mr Robert Onya, in an interview with NAN, urged exporters to explore the opportunity provided by the bank to boost their activities.

He said the bank was ready to go into partnership with stakeholders to make sure that the non-oil export sector take its rightful position in the development of the economy.