Nigeria, Italy Partner To Promote Exports

Nigeria and Italy
have agreed to partner on the exportation of more hides and skin to Italy.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo said the country exports hides and skin worth billions of naira annually to Italy.
Awolowo said the bulk of the products were from Kano State, stressing that hides and skin business was still booming in spite of the security challenges in the North-East geo-political zone of the country.
He said the NEPC had entered into collaborative ventures with other stakeholders to make meaningful contribution toward reviving the agricultural and industrial sectors in the northern part of the country.
He said Mr. President had initiated the collaborative ventures to reawaken the dead industry in the North-East geo-political zone of the country.
Awolowo said the federal government is working toward sustaining the collaborative ventures because most of the agricultural products are from that region such as sesame seeds, ginger etc.
He said efforts are being made to get the industries in that region running by the government’s effort of budding the clusters required for the industry to thrive.
The NEPC Chief Executive Officer further said that many of the hides and skin clusters are in Kano and that Nigeria exports more than $800 million worth of hides and skin to Italy yearly from Kano alone.
He said Italy is the biggest business partner of Nigeria in the area of hides and skin and called for the sustenance of such friendly business relations between both countries.