Export

More Nigerian food exports are rejected abroad, causing huge losses to exporters,  National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), reports.

The agency said specifically that more than 70 per cent of food exported from Nigeria were rejected abroad.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, reported but said the rejection in some European countries and the United States of America may soon become a thing of the past.

This would only happen if there was collaboration between the agency and other government agencies at ports is strengthened, she said.

According to a statement signed by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, the NAFDAC boss made the assertion, over the weekend, at official commissioning of the new NAFDAC office complex for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport/Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, Lagos.

Adeyeye said the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country has remained a serious cause of concern for her agency.

She added that a trip to NAFDAC export warehouses within the international airport would explain the major reason for continued rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.

The agency is responding to the challenge by initiating a collaborative venture with government agencies at the ports, to ensure goods are of requisite quality and meet the regulatory requirements of importing countries and destinations.

According to her, this raises the need for more enhanced regulation of export-packaging, pre-shipment testing and certification, to provide quality assurance and minimise rejects.

To save Nigeria’s reputation in international commerce, Adeyeye called on all stakeholders in export trade to see this as a call to duty and collaborate with NAFDAC.

“The mandate to safeguard the health of the populace through ensuring that food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals and packaged water are safe, efficacious and of the right quality in an economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on importation of the bulk of its finished products and raw materials could never have been actualised without effective presence of NAFDAC at the ports and land borders.”

Also, she commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the symbiotic relationship that exists between its management and the agency, saying:

“Without Customs, we will not be able to do a lot of what we have been able to do. The collaboration between Customs and NAFDAC is huge.”

Sokoto, May 20, 2023: The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has urged Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and other business owners to access export incentives and encouragement windows provided by government.

Mr Yahaya Ahmad-Sukaraiju, the NEPC Trade Adviser and Head of Sokoto zonal office made call at a sensitisation workshop for SMEs on how to access incentives for export of their goods and services on Saturday in Sokoto.

Ahmad-Sukaraiju described exports Incentives as a catalyst for boosting non-oil export in Nigeria and urged business owners to enlist thier items through the regulated modalities.

He said the activity was aimed at creating awareness for business owners on the incentives in NEPC to enable them to become beneficiaries.

He said that incentives would help in making domestic products competitive in the global market and encourage expansion of businesses.

“We need incentives to encourage expansion of exports, encourage businesses to export certain types of goods and services to facilitate greater market penetration and encourage domestic value-addition.

“ For increased international competition and the demand for foreign markets. Inadequate incentives is a disincentive to export,” he said.

He explained that pre-shipment incentives which was mostly for starters in the export business would help in reducing their financial burden.

He added that the post-shipment, which included mostly of tax or legal provisions, was designed for businesses who are already exporting their products to enable them expand.

The NEPC official said that their incentives schemes, over the years, had helped in cushioning cost and eliminating financial burden on exporters.

He said the result has prompted the organisation to increase its awareness outreaches to educate members of the export community to take advantage of the schemes for their benefits.

According to him, the event was also to create public discourse to generate advocacy for the government and legislature to formulate more policies and laws which guarantees the availability of resources for export incentives.

He expressed appreciation over participants’ efforts of open discussions on business challenges, interactive on business terrains and others which would enable stakeholders consider good solutions and approaches.

In his presentation, Mr Anderson Wilkie, from incentive department of NEPC dwelled on the key functions of NEPC, legal framework and functions stressing that incentives were provided to make Nigerian economy viable.

Wilkie said Nigeria needed to export to earn and business owners progress, increased foreign exchange and facilitate income for national development.

The Resource Person said that a well-articulated export plan was critical in granting incentives to businesses and listed Export Development Fund (EDF) and Export Expansion Grant as incentives being awarded to qualified applicants who must be registered with the council.

He said that opportunities of the EDF were usually advertised for applicants to upload their documents, including their proposals to the council’s portal for processing.

He said that NEPC was conducting several free training across the nation to build the capacity of businesses through value addition for export, saying it would have multiplier effects on the economy of the country.

Wilkie explained that a total of 977 companies were approved for EDF grant for the first batch of the scheme and 205 companies were approved for the second batch which were all companies with longstanding relationship with the council.

According to him, from 2021, 3, 867 businesses applied for EDF and all screened by export enablers before approval of first and second batches.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Alhaji Aliyu Maitasamu, the chairman National Onion Producers and Marchants Association, thanked NEPC for their efforts in boosting the growth of the non-oil sector and encouraging export.

Maitasamu noted that his members constrains remained non acceptability of traded money in denominations of African countries, where they faced difficulties in repatriating trade in spite of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) platforms.

He said the bank launched Pan African Payment Settling System, however, failed to satisfy dealers needs in term of repatriating sells monies back to Nigeria.

Alhaji Sani Hamidu, the Director Commerce in Sokoto state Ministry of Commerce recalled that join multilateral centre of onion exports chain was established in past and emphasized the need to revive the committee work and activities.

He assured that ministry of commerce will partner with NEPC and other relevant agencies to strengthen efforts in order to achieve maximum success.

The participants highlighted inconsistency in government policies, poor state governments supports and dwindling economic activities as challenges to prospects of their businesses.

The government of Nigeria has approved the disbursement of N308 billion worth of Promissory Notes to 199 exporting companies under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) Scheme.

While issuing letters to some beneficiaries of the scheme Nigeria export promotion council commended the government and the National Assembly for prompt response in approving the payment of the outstanding claims to the beneficiaries.

A press release issued by the NEPC’s head of corporate commissions, Ndubueze Okeke shows that the sum of N193, 456, 239, 386.40 was approved for 133 beneficiaries of the scheme in respect of EEG outstanding claims for the period of 2017 to 2020 while the sum of N108, 317, 269, 008.76 was approved for 35 beneficiaries in respect of EEG backlogs of claims for the period of 2007 to 2016 respectively.

Similarly , the sum of N68, 389, 000.00 only was approved for 13 beneficiaries in respect of stocks of outstanding Negotiable Duty Credit Certificates (NDCC).

Furthermore, the sum of N6, 617, 781, 151.25 was approved for 69 beneficiaries in respect of short fall in the approved claims by the 8th National Assembly. .

However, the Council is still awaiting the approval and release of the sum of N60,635,088,940.63 being the EEG claims for 34 beneficiary companies from the NASS.

The EEG is a post-shipment incentive scheme that was established by virtue of the Export (Incentives & Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap E19, laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

The export expansion grant targets stimulating the increase in the volume and value of Made-in-Nigerian products in the international market.

The scheme is also intended to encourage export of value added products as against raw agricultural commodities.

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The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Saturday expressed optimism that export proceeds repatriation for rebate would hit one billion dollars by fourth quarter of 2022.

Emefiele said this at a press conference on the outcome of the 13th annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat, held in Lagos, with the theme, “Increasing the Productive Base of the Nigerian Economy and Non-Oil Export Revenues.”

He said that tremendous progress had been made in generating non-oil export revenues in 2022.

The retreat, a milestone event in the calendar for the financial services sector in Nigeria, provided a unique platform for the Bankers’ Committee to conduct a recap of major banking system activities in the year.

It also provided them the opportunity to look at some of the global and local developments they thought impacted the banking and financial system landscape in Nigeria in the coming year.

Emefiele recalled that the RT200 programme started in February 2022.

“During the six weeks in February and March when the programme started, rebates of N65 were given export proceeds repatriation that earned rebate was about $62 million.

“During the second quarter, export proceeds repatriation that earned rebate was about $622 million and the third quarter, we saw almost about $850 million of export proceeds that earned rebate.

“This is not export proceeds that did not earn rebates.  Let’s not forget the rebate is only meant for processed goods. So, by the time we add both processed and unprocessed goods like unprocessed cocoa and cashew, we actually ran into almost $1 billion during the third quarter.

“And we are beginning to think that we should be able to continue to ramp up. We are looking hopefully in the fourth quarter, which we will be seeing in January, we hope that we should be able to hit over a billion dollar in export proceeds and repatriations that will qualify for rebate,’’ Emefiele said.

He said that the gathering highlighted the tremendous progress that had been made with the initiative.

Emefiele recalled that in the course of the year before the commencement of the RT200, the apex bank threatened the banks to begin to source for foreign exchange to meet the needs of their customers and not entirely rely on CBN sources.

He said: “But seeing the progress that has been made so far, we are talking about $62 million plus $622 million plus $850 million, we are talking of almost two billion dollars.

“So far, we think that with the good progress and on the basis of the progress that has been made so far, the CBN will continue to support the market with foreign exchange, albeit as hard as it may be.

“We will continue to support the market while banks themselves continue to ramp up their own sources of non-oil export that can earn foreign exchange through repatriation, which they can use to fund the needs of their customers.’’

He said that the Bankers’ Committee also announced minimum annual lending of N500 billion to exporters.

“The retreat also agreed that in an attempt to boost the volume of export repatriations, there is a need to continue to support our exporters who may need facilities either to bring in equipment with which they can process their goods and make them high standard that can qualify for export abroad and earn higher value.

“So, the Bankers’ Committee decided that every year and it should be measurable,  the entire banking industry must grant at least a minimum of N500 billion in loans to export oriented companies that will generate measurable export receipts, non-oil export proceeds that will complement what the CBN is doing.

“The CBN will come up with modalities where it will insist that bank A should grant a minimum of X amount in export loans and naturally the big banks will have to take a bigger share of this pie.

“But we also see that the big banks have made tremendous progress and contribution toward the repatriation that we have seen so far on RT200,’’ he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria exported over $1.69 billion worth of goods to the US in 2020, being a main trading partner and one of ‘‘our most important diplomatic partners’’.

He said that the relationship between Nigeria and US underscored the need for concerted efforts to increase the volume of bilateral trade.

The President spoke at a meeting  with the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum, held on the margins of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, Thursday.

He told the gathering that in 2020, adding that these exports were primarily made up of crude oil and other petroleum products.

”Nigeria’s capability is not just limited to the oil and gas industry, but variety of other sectors that hold notable potentials.

”We are the largest economy in Africa and have over 200 million-strong consumer market that is home to a range of attractive opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, light manufacturing, infrastructure development and technology.

”The beauty of this forum is that the Ministers responsible for all of these sectors are here today, as are some of Nigeria’s premier business leaders who are already excelling in these spaces, ” he said.

The President further said that Nigeria is open to deepening collaboration with BCIU, pledging this Administration’s continued commitment to maintain an enabling business environment that is friendly to foreign investors.

”Going into partnerships with trusted local and foreign partners who have well-established networks and understand the dynamics of the country is one way to guarantee success in Nigeria.

”Today’s event provides a platform for businesses under the BCIU umbrella to make connections with credible Nigerian partners. I trust that this event will help build partnerships that will translate into increased trade and investment flows between Nigeria and the United States,” he said.

Apprising the business executives on the current  Administration’s economic policy, the President said since 2015, the focus has been on economic diversification and successfully, the economy is on a path of sustainable and inclusive growth through an open, rules-based and market-oriented way of doing business.

The President emphasised that his major objectives for the forum is to garner support from the BCIU for two of Nigeria’s most high-impact developmental ambitions,

 ”Driving strategic and financial investment into Nigeria’s real-sector transformation, and rightly positioning Nigeria as a major international supply-chain partner to leading global economies like the United States.”

According to the President, global supply chains are currently facing a challenging time as U.S. shippers have been under strain caused by reduced inputs from China and the growing backlog of European imports caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

He added that the world has not fully recovered from the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and this has taught everyone the importance of having viable alternatives when traditional supply chains are unable to serve our needs.

”The current global challenges are expected to continue into 2023 and beyond, but Nigeria is ready to fill a greater amount of global demand.

”We are leveraging on our skilled labour-force, strategic location, as well as production and manufacturing potential to move forward as a key trading partner to the United States.

”I have always held the strong conviction that there is no crisis without an accompanying opportunity and solution. Increased collaboration with Nigeria and other developing markets is needed to mitigate against both current and potential future supply-chain challenges.”

Expressing confidence that the situation in the world today presented an opportunity for real sector investment in Nigeria, the President noted that since signing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Nigeria has strengthened its position as a gateway to an integrated continental market, consisting of 1.3 billion consumers with an aggregate GDP of $3.4 trillion.

Further, he stated that the administration had focused strongly on developing Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, and given the country’s enormous natural resources, technological partnership is needed to transform this natural endowment into high value goods.

”To drive forward our manufacturing and production capacity, we have developed 17 operational Special Economic Zones with four more currently under construction.

”Fourteen of these are general economic zones which support export processing, large-scale manufacturing, warehousing, logistic services, tourism, food processing and packaging as well as  technology development; the remaining three are dedicated to oil & gas related activities.

”We have furthermore commenced the development of three automotive Industrial Parks that encourage the local assembly of vehicles for the Pan-African market.”

President Buhari also used the occasion to list fiscal investment incentives formulated to encourage increased private capital inflows into Nigeria.

They include: ”Three to five years of tax holidays for enterprises in what we deem pioneer industries; tax-free operations and no restrictions on expatriate quotas in our Free Trade Zones; capital allowances for agriculture, manufacturing and engineering; and a VAT regime of 5 percent; among others.”