By Henry Uche, Lagos
An international trade expert has called on Nigerian government alongside other resource managers to do everything legally possible to keep the country going forward in the right direction as the rest of the world has progressed forward.
Femi Boyede, who is the CEO of Koinonia Global Services Inc, made this known in AIT, saying that though all export-related government agencies are striving to promote exports, Nigeria still needs a concerted and articulated approach to develop and promote exports to other countries.
The International trade expert who spoke on Export During COVID-19, said that China in 2020 recorded the highest monetary returns in history from exportation of face masks to the rest of the world, and Ghana has taken advantage of the pandemic by signing a country-to-country specific agreement with the UK to the tune of £1.3 billion to ship products to the UK, while Nigeria is yet to find its feet in the export trade.
‘Nigeria is missing in export development savviness during a period like this. We need to identify opportunities as China did during this pandemic. We need to explore the service sector, the world has gone beyond products and commodities, we are talking about using service to drive product trade. To get this done we need synergy.’
He frowned at the $1 billion allocated for Export Expansion Grant for 2021, saying that it is capable of suffocating the sector even more. He added that he saw no difference after the reopening the country’s land borders for import and export. ‘As the federal government is trying to finance export, we must realise it is imperative to have tangible and intangible products to offer for foreign revenue; this can be possible with intelligent policies, economic frameworks and action plans to facilitate export business,’ he said.