The federal government has invested N8.9 trillion in different sectors of the economy to enhance export development in the last five years, said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Osinbajo stated this in Abuja recently while delivering a keynote address at the first national conference on non-oil export with the theme: “Export for Survival: Maximising Nigeria’s Non-oil Potential”, which was organised by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
He said the federal government’s commitment to the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) which was launched in 2021 with an initial seed capital of N1tr was in urgent response to the yawning $300 billion infrastructural deficit.
He said, “The commitment followed a N8.9tr investment on infrastructure in the last five years, covering rail, roads, power and broadband connectivity, all of which are sustained and accelerated despite the interruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic,”
Osinbajo stated that with the on-going war in Russia and Ukraine which has affected the supply chain, Nigeria would have been dealt a huge blow if the government was not doing a lot in local production.
“Regulators should be facilitators of investment and not be like policemen to obstruct investment and growth especially in the non-oil sector which is why we came up with the MSME clinics.
“Government agencies are there to ensure success and assiduously enable business to optimize for greater efficiency and to aid production,” Osinbajo noted.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, said the federal government swung into action to protect businesses with the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to sustain local production.
The Executive Director, NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, decried the low export earnings accrued to Nigeria in recent years, which he noted necessitated the need to organise the conference.
He said, “We have noted with concern the Nigerian non-oil export performance in recent times in comparison to import. Report from Pre-shipment Inspection Agencies (PIA) revealed a significant growth in export proceeds in the last five years (2017-2021) from $1.2bn to $3.4bn as against an annual average of $22bn food importation alone into the country.”
