By Steve Agbota
Fidelity Bank and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) are collaborating to train Nigerians in the area of non-oil exports for inclusive economic growth in the country.
The training, which was given to a group of people at NEPC House in Lagos, was to prepare the would-be exporters who would be given product and market, information toolkits as well as other the facilities needed to explore market opportunities, product development.
The programme already has four batches trained in agro-export commodity and processing value added export, as the first batch has done a cumulative export of about $16,000, the second batch with a cumulative export of about $23,500, while the same second batch has exported 12 tonnes of Hibiscus flowers to Mexico and Ukraine.
Speaking at Zero2Export press briefing and launch organised by Fidelity Bank in conjunction with NEPC, the Managing Director of the bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said that the programme was one of the most important steps that should help people and Nigeria as a country come out of the quagmire they currently found themselves.
According to him, what Fidelity Bank was doing centres on capacity development so that people would learn from mistakes of others and do export properly and earn international respectability.
He added that there was need to reposition the non-oil export sector, which could play significant roles in diversifying Nigeria’s monolithic economy, now that the government was actually pushing everybody to do something productive to earn Nigeria foreign exchange rather than continuing to spend.
Okonkwo said there was no other time to do it but now that Nigeria is grappling with revenue crisis precipitated by the steep decline in crude oil prices. Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of NEPC, Mr. Segun Awolowo, said the programme was an integral part of pre-export incentives tailored at equipping potential exporters with the requisite knowledge and practical skills needed to enhance their competitiveness in the market place.
He explained that the importance of the partnership with Fidelity Bank on the Zero2Export project cannot be overemphasised, adding that the partnership would ensure regularity of the project in such a scale that would enhance the much-needed capacity building required for export business according to international best practices.
Said he: “Again, the bank has positioned itself to support the finance required for actual export, which is germane for ease of export business. I must commend the initiative of the bank in partnership with the council. The non-oil export sector is the next line of defence for the nation’s economy. On this note, I wish to officially inaugurate the partnership with Fidelity Bank on Zero2Export.”