Non-oil export products in Nigerian  is to be given a boost, to make them compete favourably globally, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council(NEPC) has pledged.
The NEPC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ezra Yakusak, who disclosed this at the weekend during the commissioning of Lelook Bags Academy in Abuja,  said Nigeria had a large portion of the youthful population, who were energetic, ingenious, skilful and ready to contribute in building a strong and prosperous economy,
He noted that the major challenge to this was the low capacity to galvanise young people into productive ventures for economic development.
“The Nigerian Export Promotion Council will continue to sustain its interventions to SMEs and other relevant players in the non-oil export ecosystem in pursuit of our vision of making the world a marketplace for Nigerian non-oil products,” he said.
According to him, the Lelook Academy, which was set up to teach bag-making skills, especially to women, would bridge the skills gap by providing an opportunity for Nigerians to develop their capacity and bring on board, innovative approach in production of quality bags for domestic market and, most importantly, for export.
Yakusak further said the project was important to the NEPC because it was a testimony to how the agency’s interventions had built up and transformed a small business into an export-oriented firm.
“It is interesting to note that NEPC identified  Lelook in its infancy. The Council invested immensely  into it through participation in export readiness assessment sessions, product development and adaptation, particularly in packaging and labelling  under the NEPC -ITC -SheTrades programs.
“The lessons  learnt under these programs have enabled Lelook brands and labels to   successfully compete and break into niche export markets abroad.
“You may also need to know that Lelook has been one of the SMEs that participated in NEPC’s spearheaded and sponsored trade fairs such as the Magic fair, New York Gift Fair, Inter African Trade Fair in Egypt and South Africa and several other Match-making and business expos.
“Her labels were in high demand at the just-concluded Expo 2020 Dubai,” he noted.
Nigeria earned $45.56bn from crude and non-oil in 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade Statistics. But crude oil made up over 76.22 per cent of this amount, while the non-oil was 23.78 per cent.
However, much of the $34.72bn earned from crude oil went into refining of the product abroad – due to absence of refineries locally. Non-oil exports were around $10.836bn. Emerging markets such as India, Vietnam and Bangladesh have done much better.
Founder, Lelook Academy, Mrs Chinwe Florence Ezenwa, said the goal of the academy was to buy into the Federal Government’s target of diversifying the Nigerian economy and promoting the country’s non-oil exports.
“Having spent over 35 years in the sector, I am convinced on how to make a difference. Everywhere else, people talk about vocational skills,  but here, we talk about bag-making skills specifically. We thought we needed to raise people, especially women, with skills, with Nigeria having signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.”