The Federal Government
has been called up to diversify the nations economy by initiating incentives and policies geared toward boosting non oil exports.
The chairman of the Palm Oil Millers Association of Nigeria (POMAN), Ahoada East Chapter, Mr Waneri Okrigwe who made the call in Port Harcourt, Saturday in an exclusive interview with our correspondent said there was need for the nation’s economic team to formulate policies that would make the country compete in non-oil exports.
He said in terms of diversification, the nation had achieved a significant amount of progress in Local production and consumption but was not competitive in exporting such services.
Citing South Africa as a successful exporter of their local services abroad he said the Southern African Country’s economy was not only driven by sale of commodities but also by services such as MTN, DSTV, South African Breweries, amongst others.
“Let the government formulate policies that can make those in the private sector export their products abroad” he said.
According to the POMAN boss, if the nation’s private sector had a strong export base, the dependence on oil as the country’s mainstay would be down played.
He further called on the need to refining the nation’s crude oil domestically as to enable the exporting of refined products abroad instead of the present practice of exporting our crude.
“It is important to reactivate the refineries and begin the process of refining our crude locally”, he said
According to him, export opportunities abound in the country as could be seen in such sectors as e-commerce entertainment and the hospitality industry amongst others.
He also called on the government to focus attention on increased tax collection to enable it meet projected budgetary implementation infrastructure to boost cottage industries in the country.