Mrs Nonye Ayeni, Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Export Promotion Council(NEPC),said Nigeria recorded the highest export of non-oil products valued at $5.4billion in 2024.
Ayeni, who stated this in Abuja at a seminar organised for journalists, said in 2024, formal export trade records indicated that 7.291 million metric tons of non-oil products valued at US$5.456 billion, were exported from Nigeria.
She revealed that in the 45 years of the existence of the Council, that $5.4billion was the highest recorded in the export of non-oil products.
She however, noted that this figure excludes informal export trade data.
To further grow export trade, she stated that the NEPC and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would facilitate data collection from Informal Cross Border Trade.
According to her, “Informal export trade representing millions of dollars in goods and services has remained largely outside our official records.”
Ayeni explained that the collaboration between the Council and the NBS was borne out of the desire to correct the imbalance and capture the full spectrum of Nigeria’s export trade activity.
She disclosed that a team made up of NEPC and NBS personnel has been sent to Kebbi State to facilitate data collection from Informal Cross Border Trade.
In her presentation, Mrs. Evelyn Obidike, Director, Product Development Department, said the Council has been working assiduously to reduce product rejects in the international market.
Obidike identified poor packaging, wrong labelling and branding as some of the challenges confronting export of Nigerian products.
She expressed optimism that sesame, one of Nigeria’s agricultural products, would soon have market access into various countries of the world.
