Micro, small and medium industrialists in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, have been advised to utilise the window provided by Nexportrade Houses Limited (NHL), to export their products officially to Lome, Togo and other West African countries.
Nexportrade Houses Limited was established in 2006, through the joint effort of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Group (MANEG) and other stakeholders from the public and organised private sectors, as one of the strategies for Nigerian firms to access international market.
Olusegun Awolowo, executive director/chief executive officer, NEPC, at a stakeholders’ engagement forum, on repositioning Nexportrade Houses Limited, held Monday, August 31, 2020, in Aba, explained that the objective of Nexportrade was to increase Nigeria’s international market share, whilst stimulating economic growth.
Awolowo, who was represented at the forum, by Iliya Bitrus Yaro, deputy director, the international export office of NEPC, said that Nigeria needed an aggressive marketing approach to increase productivity, enhance expansion and facilitate growth.
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He observed that one of the major challenges faced by exporters in the country was the cost of logistics, especially exporting to West African countries, where made-in-Nigeria products have high competitive advantage, noting that NHL was set up to drastically reduce this cost of logistics for Nigerian exporters, especially the MSMEs.
He, however, regretted that NHL was yet to commence full operations more than a decade after its establishment, due to some operational challenges.
He stated that the NEPC firmly believes that the NHL platform can and would indeed provide impetus to Nigerian exporters to dominate the West African and African markets at large, if well implemented, which is the reason it is collaborating with the organised private sector and other stakeholders to reactivate and reposition the Nexportrade Houses Limited project with a view to achieving its set objective.
Similarly, the council is also working closely with MANEG to upgrade the Nexportrade website with the aim of making it more interactive in order to attract potential customers and promote the patronage for export quality Made-in-Nigeria products and services, Awolowo stated.
According to him, “If we must as a nation forge ahead in the non-oil export drive, then we must be ready and willing to change our marketing strategies or ways of accessing foreign markets.
“It is in this context that we need to ensure the smooth take-off of NHL in order o reap the benefits accruable from the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement”.
Benedict Obhiosa, executive secretary, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who represented Ede Dafinone, chairman, MANEG at the event, explained that Nexportrade Houses Limited, in 2008, opened a showroom in Liberia, where they did their first shipment for some companies, like PZ-Cussons, CAP Plc, Golden Noodles Limited and Golden Pasta Company Limited.
He stated that Nexportrade also exported to Cameroun, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali, the same year it exported to Liberia, but could not continue, due to some logistics challenges.
To assuage the challenges faced by the scheme in Liberia, Obhiosa, noted that the leadership of Nexportrade Houses Limited in collaboration with the NEPC, decided to restrategise on looking at different markets within West Africa and they decided on Togo.
