NEPC identifies common mistakes by Nigerian exporters, boosts knowledge in South-South

…Launches fresh push to revive oil palm industry in Rivers

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has identified common mistakes Nigerian exporters make. The Council has also resolved to help Rivers State retake its leading position in oil palm industry by returning to massive plantation system.

NEPC thus mounted a workshop in Port Harcourt in the week teaching the way forward from oil palm produce to marketing strategies.

Benedict Itegbe, south-south regional coordinator of NEPC, in a technical paper, named the common mistakes as focusing only on product features or grade without linking to buyer pains/gains.

The next is ignoring compliance and certifications, assuming price alone wins deals; not customizing value propositions for different market segments (e.g., EU buyers vs. African regional buyers); ignoring the offerings of competitors and cultural/business practices; trying to serve many customers segments from inception; and failing to test assumptions by surveys.

Showing Nigeria’s steady rise in non-oil export, Itegbe told the budding exporters that Nigeria in 2020 recorded a mere $2.2bn; 2021 – $3.5bn; 2022 – $4.8bn; 2023 – $4.5bn; and 2024 – $5.5bn.

The nation moved from 4,8mmt in 2020 to 7.2mmt in 2024 of export quantity. He said agric commodities dominated the export market in 2024 by 51.33%, semi manufactured 46.38%, and the extractive industries 2.29%.

The top 20 products were named as cocoa beans 30.55% exported to the US and some other countries including the Netherlands; Urea fertilizer 15.74% to Brazil, US, Spain etc; and others such as sesame seed, cashew nuts, aluminum ingots, cocoa butter, copper, soya beans, good doze, hibiscus flower, lead to various countries giving the remaining percentage.

He said West African countries are making great showing as export market for Nigerian goods such as Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Liberia, etc.

Seaports accounted for the highest exit point with $5.18bn or 95% of the commodities that moved out in 2024; air $186m or 3.41%, and land $89m or 1.63%.

He lectured the exporters on business model canvas saying there must be value proposition, issue of customers, customer relations, and distribution channels. He warned budding exporters to know it that the export market is very competitive.

He said: “SME (small and medium enterproses) exporters must differentiate themselves not only by product quality but by delivering clear value to buyers and end consumers. He said the Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) is a tool that helps exporters align their products and services with customer needs in target export markets. “The global export market is highly competitive. SME exporters must differentiate themselves not only by product quality but also by delivering clear value to buyers and end consumers.

“It answers two key questions: What value are you offering? Why should international buyers choose you over competitors?”

He took them through customer jobs (functional, social, emotional), the pains and gains. On pains he said: “Challenges, risks, and negative experiences customers want to avoid. Risk of supply shortages. Poor documentation or delays at ports. Non-compliance with international standards/Price instability/support.”

On gains, he talked about: “Benefits customers expect, desire, or would be surprised by. Examples in the export space: competitive pricing; access to traceable and certified products, reliable delivery schedules, and strong after-sales.”

He gave the step by step process for SMEs, etc.

Itegbe illustrated with cassava and oil palm. For cassava he told the value chain players to take note of key partners as farmer cooperatives, local processors, NEPC, freight forwarders, while value proposition would look at low moisture, diaspora ready garri, tailored packaging, culturally branded. Revenue streams would be retail export sales, whole b2b bulk,

For oil palm, he said they should focus on oil millers, agro-dealers, export agents, certification bodies. The value proposition would look at sustainably-sourced red oil, women-led sourcing, shorter route to Asian markets. The revenue streams would be export sales per metric ton and contract supplies.

He took them through business competitiveness and learning outcomes especially competitiveness for SME exporters as their ability to consistently deliver products or services that meet international standards, at prices and qualities superior to competitors and that appeal to global buyers, while maintaining strong profitability and adapting to changing market dynamics. He warned about risks of not having e-commerce content as well as tpes of risks.

The Architect alsomentioned Artificial intelligence (AI) and competitive advantage such as market intelligence and opportunity scanning.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Itegbe (zonal coordinator), said the topic of the workshop was: ‘Strengthening Oil Palm Export Clusters for Global Competitiveness and Airfreighting.’ “The workshop is basically an agenda set. The workshop will focus on enhancing the capacity of stakeholders in the oil palm export value chain, understanding quality certifications, market access requirements, and exploring strategies for engaging international buyers.

“It is to help reroute export point to Port Harcourt International Airport. Lagos exports about $150m worth of goods per year now, while Port Harcourt airport does about 5% of that.

“This event will also unveil the partnership between NEPC and Fidelity Bank. We are working to strengthen non-oil export in the south-south. It will lead to a communique that would point to a roadmap for export boost in the zone.”

Goodwill messages came from many personalities including Dogara Sagbere, Rivers State chairman, Nigerian Association of Small, Medium Enterprises (NASME); and Nana Wanjua, Chief Gender Officer, Pan Africa Chamber of Commerce in Ethiopia office.

Wanjua said she was a real estate expert practitioner and a hotelier. She told women participants to be more enthusiastic and study harder, saying she failed at a point because she did not train well in it.

The officials of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) led by Bayo Adepoju, a pharmacist and deputy director, ports inspection directorate (PID), were on ground to put exporters through on how to handle certification.

He gave them an overview on NAFDAC enabling laws, export of NAFDAC regulated products, roles of NAFDAC, export explication processes, and export reject crisis including factors responsible for reject of regulated products as well as quality parameters for oil palm.

The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) sent Sunny J. Ade who said agriculture has been a catalyst for growth, especially in developing countries where it is a primary source of foreign earnings and employment generation.

He explained their role in value chain financing from inputs to production aggregation and trade, processing, and distribution.

Read also: NEPC storms PH with AfCFTA’s GTI strategies, reveals products that trade fast in Africa

Rivers and oil palm industry:

In a big intelligence on oil palm industry in Rivers State, Erasmus Chukunda, Rivers State chairman of the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), speaking on ‘Profiling the CBN Oil Palm Project in Rivers State’, gave overview of processing export certificate with reference to quality certification and standard in palm oil export.

Despite lamentations about the failure of the state administration in 2018 to queue into the FG/CBN massive support to oil palm revival to stop importation, he however said: “In Nigeria, Small oil growers, control 80% percent of the oil palm market. OPGAN was formed to help address the challenges facing the Oil Palm sector and improve their competitiveness by strengthening coordination, improving management practices, creating market linkages, and promoting fair trade amongst key value chain actors in the industry.

“In Rivers state we have embraced the modern agricultural cluster management system and established more than 43 clusters of oil palm farmers in the state. Our well trained farmers are engaged in all the oil palm value chain, and vast in oil palm products marketing and export.”

He gave the important of oil palm economy, saying: “Every Nigerian uses palm oil and other products every day; Conservation of foreign exchange earnings -Export; Job creation: Investment of $1b will create 5m jobs in the oil palm belt of the country; 60% of oil palm investment is domiciled locally; Oil palm industry is rural based – mitigates rural-urban migration; Oil palm being rural based, investment has direct impact on rural economy and helps to reduce poverty and income distribution; Job creation is a tool for effective security management.”

He said the importance of oil plam trade created the West African Institute of Oil Palm Research Benin (Currently NIFOR); the Dura specie – high in Kernel but low oil content, etc. “Nigerian is now the 5th largest producer with annual production – about 1.4m/t. Nigerian annual consumption- about 2.4 m/t. Production short fall – 1,000,000 m/t. This is augmented with imports at a minimum cost of $600m per annum – CBN annual report. To close the demand/supply gap will require the establishment of 400,000 ha of oil.”

Rivers and the CBn intervention:

Chukunda said the CBN has intervened in several areas through the CACS, Anchor Borrowers Programme and AGSMEIS Loan. “CBN Facilitated the training of Oil Palm Farmers in 2020 by the African Community Bridge Foundation and Develop You Foundation. About 1,000 Oil Palm Farmers were trained to access the loan facility.

“Oil Palm Farmers in Rivers state are beneficiaries of the five years AGSMEIS 5% int. Loan in 2021.

We have built and commissioned ten (10) Cottage Oil Palm Industries across the 3 senatorial zones of the state and established about 1,000 new Smallholders Oil Palm Plantations to boost supply of Fresh Fruit Bunches to our mills. And we have just received approval for establishing Palm Oil Refinery and Furniture Production Factories in the state.”

He said in 2023, his group also received the support of NEPC, 500 hybrid Tenera Seedlings were presented to OPGAN members during a workshop in Port Harcourt. These seedlings are already yielding fruits.

“Recently, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) have launched the National Palm Oil Traceability System (NaPOTS) Framework and formed inter-agency committee of 16 members to oversee its implementation. This has been domesticated in Rivers State. NEPC and OPGAN are strategic members of this committee.

He said: “Rivers state government has identified more than 10,000 hectares of land for new oil palm development in the state. The Ministry of Agriculture has registered farmers across the state including Oil Palm Farmers.

“Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) intervention is aimed at assisting the smallholder palm oil farmers and processors in the sector to increase the quantity and quality of their palm oil outputs and increase their sales to earn more income and create new jobs.

“They identified that Smallholder Farmers are confronted with the problem of poor agronomic practices and inefficient traditional methods of production and processing, PIND inspired input companies, lead farmers, agro-dealers and fabricators to help palm oil farmers and processors in the sector to; learn and adopt climate-smart best management practices to improve oil palm yield; produce premium quality oil using improved processing technology, etc.”

He said OPGAN members in Rivers state were delighted to join the NEPC Oil Palm Export Cluster and support its strategies aimed at strengthening the Clusters for global competitiveness and airfreighting.