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gouernm e lll fa ux ,...is IIl e prom o /io/l oj lIg"ic ulllll"'tl' IJroduc ' s j o r expor' trllde? The present Minister of Trade and hWe!ollncll l, Mr. Olusegun Aga nga, lS doing, II \\olldcrful job in If)ing 10 crealo! the nt!ll!ded investment dnl'.:! 111 the count ry. BUlIO promote this foreign direct III\"~lmenl, tJlere is s till more 10 be done. 111C govenllucnl has 10 create a n enablhlg CIl\1ronmenl; it has to I)ul the basic IIIfrastnl(:ture In place as a minimum standard. 'nle road network and po\..er are still II major selback to the furdsn iUH!Slmenl drive. /Htlll!} bdieue tllIIl the o nly IIli,I Y tlull we expo,., ill N igeri« is crude oil. Wi ,y is tilere lulU aauorellesli' in proc ill c i CXJ)o rt l'
I bchi"\'c th .. , the awareness is gradll!!lI}' bellla; IIIgraillcd III the Nigeri,1.O cultu re.. IlIlIi.. lly, 11 WaJ:r.llt so because the 1!,00'Cnllnenl lYd l:ont:ellirated solely o n oil a nd gas ami we neo.cr knew whal we h.ud io
the 000-011 SOlCtor. Don't forgo.:! that III the e.arly60s. Ihe nOll-oil sector WlUl sustallllllJ!, the ~:()lIomy unlil "'hen oil became tltt! all In 1111 Hut with wha t we arc domg In J ocarol, with the nec:essary awanmes.s we have been creatllig 111 p..1rtnershlp with diffe re nt stat.! ZO'o·enllllents. more Nigerialls are becollung aware thaI tileR! Ind eed are other products th.;lt CIlIl cam us forcir,1I exd.lllng~ If yuu look around.. Nigeria is 11 blessed COOlltry. If the gw.cmmc:nt C.IIII look 11lt0 all these areas in liS uri\e for foreign direct illveslmem, I believe thlll 11 wi ll grea tly help the economy and help It>Ji\,l!l~ify Ihe Nigerian economy Ilnd I)rolllole non-uil exvnn uad~ ,,'Iud i$ Ill e ezJJort uo lue of k o lt.... ut mnl bitter k o l" ? .!1te two are \o:ry important cash crops tha i eIl ll be expo rt ed from Nigeria. J( we look al biller kola, for mstance, Ihe mtematlOnlil pnee 11.U been hOVC!nllg between $15 and $16 per 1010 It is an investment that can eanl Nige.ria a lot of money if the love.mment can encourage the piantlilion of more of the tree and also encourage the. exportation o f the Ilroduct. Hiller kola is 11 \'e.ty good foreign exchange camer maillly demanded ill the Ullited States, Franceand India where it is used in theproducrion of many medicines that are needed worldwide.. We have created 50 IIlUch awarelles5 and investment drive in this aspect 311d I believe tlla! III tlle nearesl lutu re. Nigeria stands to gain c:normously from the e.xptII1atiu li III the non-oil sector. llH!re is no need flX:lblllg 50 Inuch 0 11 o il Ihal can fimsh 3t any lime \~hell we have other Vltal areu too .... here we can e'drtl fOI""Clgn exchange. When I was II student in Europe and I did a db.sertatioll researdl on a&rlCuhure export, I discovered Ihal Spain is Ih~ chief exporte.r of rood in the entire Europe. Spain exports agricultuml products to different EuroileaD t'OWIlriesj there is there. ' nlctr ma.nufacturi ng s«tor is not so good bllt Spain has II ~I tcr~tandlird oflivin&. Nigeria s tands 50 much 10 pill also as the ar;ricultural power bouse In Africa i( the go,emment (,'11 11 sust811l the current dri\"e, lVlIUI of c /UJ l'ClOlJ1 exp o rt ? ChafCfJ8l 1100 Is II good export product but we han: had much rain this yea r and it has zre:ltly affected the exportallon of t:harc:oal. Ordinarily, ....'e. a~ SUllposed to be III Ille season of chart:"03.1 but Ihe flooding has no t belped mailers ' ''/Ial o th er area of exp o rl iIi J~rol rnaJdng effort t o g o inl o? We are prest:ntly partneri"l with the Lagos State Gave-rumen t to create the needed awareness llbout the polential 111 ilgnculture product export We orgallIsc lralllings and works.hops and help III sourcing contr.acts with differeut inlernational companies. We believe thaI these are little contributio ns th.at will go a long way in creaUllg the needed awareness becii.llse knowledge. is power. We rocus on quality specifiClilions o f these products because we discover that ignorance on the part
October
27, 2012
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go\'CmlllClll should look at critically lind do sometillng dl"hllcally ''''Iere avere " cp ortIi ill I/le pas t oJ'lIImy Ji;ecllrily o utfilS u t tllll ,mrls. often Ic adi.n g t o 100 IllI lCh bureauc rCl cy. tile s iluut ion illlproued n ow? There is 110 Ilroble," \O';lh different olltfits mannillg the ports but what I think the government should do is to speU Ollt the specific runCtlUlIS of each outfit 10 avoid overlapllillg and duplication of dllties, 11lCre must be a kind oChannonisation of fllnCIlOI15 and the fees paid so that the lt4-hour clearance Ctl n be achieved. ' Vlwl ill real terms d oes N ige ria s lntl d 10 g aill ill t!XJJQrlillY ayric ultu rn l p rodUCIS? Presently, Nlgenll's c;nlling III the agrlcllh ure e~pon seclUr i.5 not wha l government \v"dI\lS II to be. If we look at the present GOP of Nigena, retunlS from agricultural Ilroduc15 hll\"e not reached 50 per celli benchmark But I can say thai if everything IS (lut In place, agriculture expon can o\·ertake what ..... e earD [rom the oil export. If the govenunent Sllstains the policy, especially ilS plan to ban the iml)()rta li un of rice 11\ 2015 and increase the production I"'dte of cassava, I believe In five years, agriculture's contribution to the Gnp would be quilc significant. Bul d o loe h aue e n o u g h 10 u cllie.tJe r eJi;OllreeB
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1 behcve ..... e ha\·e. If th e pnvate-sector dri\·en agricuhural SKlor is encouraged and sus tained, with time, many Nigerians .....iII diversify into the &eCtor, What I .also want to say IS Ihat It is not how many Nilerians that come 10 th e field bnt th e method of farming used Goverlllneni really has to in\'est more in m echamsed fanning to ph~ out the present s ubsistence fanning method. One mechanised farmer caD produce in 11 season what 200 luils:istence farnlers can produce. 111 years, Covenllllcni
i~~lt~!:a:~~~l of Nigerian inveslors about quality specification of some of Ihe e.xporled products has led to great losses. We put litem through and the risk factors associated ....; th each Ilrodl1l:t and th e countries ....'"here they are demanded, We are hallpy that many people and COIll Il3I1tes: arc coming to acquire the needed knowledge to enhancc their eamin&\Vlrat qftlle cu ssuva l uber; c on th ll lJl"'Oduc t be f!XJJo rtcd in IIl at f OMJI ? Well, the tuber can be exPOrled but it is just that the risk is quite high. Preferably, the chips wilt be better because of its added value.. TIle contract the Federal Coverument secured from China is basically un cassava chips lind pellets. Quite a number or Nigerian companies DOW eJCl)()rt agm-based products 10 the world and we are happy about Ihal . I mlls t say that the governme.nt', drl\-e has attnlCled huze relurns in tenus of cass;t\~ chips contracts from Cluna. I believe that the right foundation has been laid for us all to build upon, Are I.h e ports conduc iuefor uport l rudc? I will commend thelovernment for making them aport trude friendly. BUI ....·hen it comes 10 Import, I still beliC"\'e. that there IS room for improvem ent. 11le 24-hour clearance is still not operatkmal in Nigeria and this is what the gOVC!nllnent mw.1 do a lot to aclllcve. ,11c road network is vital. In fact, I don 't understand ho ..... roads leading to major !iea1)()MS are in s uch IIgly sll.1llCS. 'nlis is 1111 imporlalll IlSpecl o r interllational trade which the
should IIIte nsify efforts in providing nect:ssary incentiVes to encourage manufacturing or importation of agricultural equipment a nd implements where fanners call ha\'e easy access. In Ihe US. ollly abou t five. per cellt produce what the population eats and even export. It is 11 0 1 a matter o f ho ..... many but the techniques and methods elllilloyed. A s a comlUUlY 0"" illle.rfilce$ o n b e h alf of Niger iull compan ieS" in l e rna l io flu.lly, is 'here an irnprouc JII l"lIt in 'l OW / ur e.iglle r ll regard N ige riollil in lerms of IJu.r,"e r s h ip Ulld irlVc$lme lll ? I believe Nigeria is a world power, no I11811er whal is being said about us. It will amaze you in lIIost of the international flights I have been, the numbc!r of fureigners in the plant: is Itlways more lhan double compared to NigerialU. Yo u ask )'Ourself this question, o( 11.11 the ne&ati\'e thlllgs being said about Nigeria, whal is it tha t is bringing in this huge number of foreigners? I belie\'e that we !leed to put things right in Nigeria because it is a greal rountry tliat is blessed.