Fed Govt lists 13 export products as replacement for crude oil

The Federal Government has listed “13 National
Strategic Export Products” to replace crude oil.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment,
Olusegun Aganga who stated this, said the move is
intended to revive the ailing national economy with
emphasis on rapid growth of the non-oil sector for
exports.
Aganga who spoke when he visited the Chief
Executive, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC)
, Olusegun Awolowo in Abuja, said with the wind of
transformation blowing across the 13 products,
they are good replacements for crude oil in the
market.
He said: “The 13 products are Agro-industrial-
palm oil, cocoa, cashew, sugar and rice; Mining
Related- cement, iron ore/metals; Auto parts/cars,
aluminium and oil and gas industrial products;
Petroleum products, fertiliser/urea, petrochemical
and methanol.
“NEPC has the capacity to kick-start the
diversification of the country’s economy. I chose
NEPC and SMEDAN for my first visit in the New
Year because of their potential and strategic
importance for diversification of the economy, job
creation, poverty alleviation and inclusive growth.”
The strategy to be deployed in this regard,
according to him, requires that NEPC identifies
products that are being imported by countries from
other exporting nations and develop the products
with sound logistics built around them. As an
export oriented investment strategy, the products
will be delivered to those neighbouring countries at
cheaper rates.
Aganga said: “In doing this, we must recognise our
neighbors’ developmental needs, support them and
collaborate with them in areas of their comparative
advantage. For you to have sustainable
relationship, the relationship must be symbiotic.
“The new strategic focus is not just agriculture but
rather commodities based-industrialisation. This
will help our economy to diversify quickly and
sustainably. “Such strategy will help build
industrial sector that can diversify our economy in
just few years.”
The minister urged NEPC to work towards earning
big income for Nigeria by focusing on products
and services that will yield quick results in few
years with a view to assisting Nigeria earn foreign
exchange.
Awolowa said NEPC, under his leadership, had
long recognised the need to develop the non-oil
export sub-sector and had in the process held
series of strategic meetings with stakeholders for
the development of ideas aimed at improving the
foreign exchange earnings of the country through
different avenues.
These, he said include, the development of a Four-
Year Strategic Plan, One State One Product (OSOP)
, Nigerian Diaspora Export Programme (NDEX) and
the development of New Markets for New Products.