‘Nigeria earned N428bn from non-oil exports last year’

Posted by admin Latest Politics, Oil Politics Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Nigeria made N428bn from non-oil exports in the last one year, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said on Thursday. This feat, he said, was achieved through proactive trade policies and incentives for non-oil exports introduced by the Ministry of Trade and Investment, adding that Nigeria had achieved a relatively high level of international penetration. He spoke at the ministerial platform organised by the Ministry of Information to mark President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s one year in office, according to a statement made available to our correspondent by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Mrs. Yemi Kolapo. Aganga said, “In 2011, Nigeria exported non-oil products to 103 countries and territories out of 220. This shows significant improvement over the previous years.

There has been an increase in non-oil exports to $2.765bn (N428bn), representing an increase of 19 per cent. “The Export Expansion Grant is critical to the growth of the Nigerian export market. We have had wide consultations across all industry groups within the value chain of each commodity. New guidelines on EEG are expected shortly.” The minister also disclosed that actual investments in the country’s Free Trade Zones currently stood at $11.1bn, adding that 35,120 new jobs had been created in the zones. Giving the breakdown of the investment inflows into the FTZs, the minister stated that the Onne Oil and Gas FTZ, in Rivers State, had attracted investment worth $6bn, noting that investment commitments in the facility were worth $6.7bn in the last one year. He added that other FTZs across the country under the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority also generated $4.4bn investment in the last one year, noting, however, that the ministry was currently reviewing the operations of the zones to make them more functional. Overall, Aganga said that Nigeria had secured over N6.6tn investment commitments in the last one year.

“The breakdown of the total investment commitments showed that expected FDI into the country stood at N3.9bn, while commitments from local investors stood at N2.7tn,” he stated. Aganga also said the ministry had held over 70 meetings in over 12 countries, resulting in the renewed investment interest in Nigeria. He said “As a result of the ongoing reforms and aggressive investment drive by the Ministry of Trade and Investment, investment commitments of over N6.6tn over the next three years have been generated. “To attract investment in these key sectors, the ministry has made trade and investment missions to key partner countries to develop interest in the Nigerian market, accompanied by Nigerian business leaders. -Punchwp_posts