Uche Henry
National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Iyalode Alaba Lawson, is leaving no stone unturned in her quest to ensure that its members enjoy hitch- free business operations in the country for national growth and development.
Speaking at NACCIMA Business Women Group, (NAWORG), on Export Promotion Conference at the weekend in Lagos, the NACCIMA president said the forum was designed to brainstorm and synergise with sister agencies to chart better course on facilitating exportation in Nigeria especially in the agricultural sector.
According to Lawson, NACCIMA is looking at opportunities and challenges to promoting export trade and proffer solutions to the challenges to broaden and grow Nigeria’s export trade.
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“We are harnessing the entrepreneurial traits and potential of youths and women for national growth and development. However, we are also tackling low level of knowledge and awareness of export trade, poor storage facilities, huge cost of haulage, cost of shipping, complexities of ports operation, and sharp practices, among others,” she stated.
On regulations, she said it is imperative for exporters to follow due process and procedures of export, saying the era of packaging substandard and non-approved products for export is over. “Exporters must not cut corners but comply with the extant laws and regulations if their products must be officially exported. By doing this, our products would be appreciated in the international market and our GDP would surge,” she charged.
She further reiterates that, “Nigerians must begin to live and lead like countries without oil and emphasise more on export because exportation has come to replace oil as our main source of foreign exchange since no country can survive without exporting goods and services. Exportable products are Nigeria’s new oil; all we need is to bind our loins together and promote export so as to return Nigeria back to the days when N1 was equal to $1, thus, all hands must be on deck. That’s what is important now,” she added.
In a keynote message, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Segun Awolowo, said the council is doing everything possible to fast track export and eliminate bottlenecks in the whole process.
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Speaking on the theme, “Nigeria Export Trade: Focusing on the Chains and Regulations”, Awolowo maintained that the goal of the forum is to give attention to the value chains and provisions guiding exportation so as to guide exporters against undue exploitations in the long run.