The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has highlighted 22 products that can enable Nigeria achieve a zero oil plan.
The NEPC disclosed this in its “Opportunities in the Export Market” report published recently as it noted that unemployment rate in Nigeria is at an all-time high of 33.6%, and the value of the Naira and revenue from crude oil exports are at an all-time low, coupled with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They added that Nigeria must survive in a world in which it sells no more oil, as the zero oil plan is a strategic plan to diversify Nigeria’s export portfolio to include non-oil exports such that 20% of the GDP is attributed to non-oil exports.
The 22 priority products for the zero oil plan
NEPC said, “The target is to attain $30 billion in non-oil exports by 2025 and 500,000 additional jobs created annually.
“NEPC recognises that participation of the private sector is key to the success of the Zero Oil Plan – a blueprint for non-oil export-led economic diversification agenda.”
The NEPC placed the 22 priority products into 2 categories:
Category A: Petrochemicals & Methanol, Soybean, Sugar, Cotton & Yarn, Nitrogenous Fertilizer & Ammonia, Palm Oil, Rice, Rubber, Hides and Leather, Cocoa and Gold.
Category B: Cement and Clinkers, Tomato (fresh and partly processed), Banana & Plantain, Oranges, Cashew, Cassava, Sesame, Spices, Ginger, Shea Butter and Cowpea.
Nigeria’s target export volume for category A products according to the NEPC is $28 billion, compared to $400 billion globally, with Petrochemical and Methanol having the highest of Nigeria’s target export volume at $7.5 billion.
What you should know
Recall Nairametrics reported that Nigeria extended its negative trade balance in the first half of 2021, as its trade deficit surged to N5.81 trillion in the period. This is according to the recently released foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Nigeria exported total merchandise valued at N7.99 trillion in the review period, opposed to a total import value of N13.8 trillion, indicating a trade balance of -N5.81 trillion between January and June 2021.
This comes on the back of recurrent trade deficits recorded in previous periods, that is, N2.25 trillion in H1 2020 and N5.12 trillion in H2 2020. However, this is by far the highest trade deficit recorded by Nigeria in any half-year period.
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