NEPC to assist over 5,000 Southeast SMEs in non oil export

The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it will assist no fewer than 5,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the South East to engage in non-oil exports.
The Southeast Regional Coordinator of the council, Mr Arnold Jackson, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.
Jackson said that the move was part of efforts by the council to boost diversification and promotion of non-oil exports in Nigeria.
The coordinator said that the council would also develop templates that would help SMEs to add value to their products as well as ensure quality assurance.
He said that though Nigerian products were doing well in the international market, entrepreneurs still needed to make their products more competitive and relevant.
He however, said that Nigerian entrepreneurs needed to do better in the area of packaging their products, to get the desired attention at the international market.
“There is need to sensitise the SMEs to meet the parameters for export. If you do not package your products very well to meet international standard and gain premium, you may not achieve much,” he said.
Jackson said that the council had through its “one state, one product” initiative, made a deliberate effort to promote Nigerian products.
He said that the initiative was a situation where each state would concentrate on the production of an item it had comparative advantage on.
The coordinator said that the initiative which had zero oil plan had been mainstreamed into the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan of the Federal Government.
“In this initiative, one or two products may be pushed as the mainstay with others as alternatives,” he said.
Jackson said that if conscientiously implemented, the move was capable of improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of state governments.
He however, said that state governments needed to provide the enabling environment for the initiative to thrive.
According to him, Enugu State, Ebonyi, and Abia have comparative advantage in the production and export of cashew nuts, rice, and leather respectively.
He also said that Anambra and Imo had comparative advantage in the production and export of rice and pineapple respectively.
Jackson urged SME operators in the zone to form clusters for ease of attention and certification of their products under the initiative.
“State governments have to get involved to drive this process of export, and by so doing, create employment opportunities for their people,” Jackson said. (NAN)