By Olanrewaju Ajao The Executive Director of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo Wednesday, announced that the agency would launch a Zero-Oil Plan meant to promote non-oil products marketing in the country.
Fielding questions from State House Correspondents shortly after his presentation to the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Awolowo said the plan would assist the country to scale up on the products it has comparative advantage.
“We are here to get the Vice President’s buy-in on a new plan. It is called the Zero Oil Plan. This is a plan that we think will really help Nigeria out of the doldrums we now face. We are facing a drop of revenue of over $30 billion. Our revenue on oil has fallen from 70 to almost 40 billion. That alone can kill a country if we are not careful.
We are the apex agency for the promotion of non-oil products in Nigeria. So we have come up with this Zero-Oil Plan which we are getting the stakeholders’ buy-in all over, and which our minister will formally come and present to Mr President. This is a plan that will say let us scale up production on many of the products; agricultural products and petrochemical products that Nigeria has comparative advantage and let’s take them out to the world and trade internationally,” he said.
The NEPC boss, who said that the minimum revenue generation the agency targets from each sector is $20 billion, stated that the agency also plans to scale up the country’s non-oil exports to almost $30 billion by 2025.
He said: “We are looking at sectors. The minimum sector we are looking at targeting is $20 billion. So if a product is trading below that, we are not interested in it. So we said let’s look at those products; that is our zero-oil plan and let’s target and take Nigerian products to the world; to the international markets so that we can earn foreign exchange.”
Awolowo, who said that the vice president was interested in the initiative, said it was high time Nigeria scaled up its foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing and industrial sectors.
He continued: “We got a very good response from the Vice President. He has been charging me with this ever since he was sworn in, asking me about plans. So, we are looking at scaling up production to almost some 10 million metric tons of petrochemical products. We can do that. Why? We are a petrol economy. The bye-products of this we are not trading it internationally.
“All we are exporting is crude oil. So these are some of the aspects of the zero oil-plan. But you are going to be hearing more on this plan when our ministry takes custody of it and then we push it to Mr President to drive. And that is the only way we can get out of this present economic crisis
“For instance we are strong in cocoa. That is good. Cocoa, the powder and everything being traded is a $30 billion market. So we need to first scale up production of cocoa and then we now start processing and then exporting. Because we are still exporting raw thing, the hubs, we are on 250,000 metric tons. That is nothing. We need to scale up production.
“We have been the largest recipients of FDI in the last seven years. But FDI comes into Nigeria, it is coming into oil and it is coming into trade funds. We are now saying that FDI must come into manufacturing and industry that is the only way that we get value addition. That is the only way we can create jobs. And this is key. The zero oil-plan is the solution to Nigeria’s problems.”
