The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), yesterday in Abuja pledged to push Nigeria’s export target further to $25 billion over the next three years.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Olawale Fasanya made the statement at the conclusion of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) packaging and branding program on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA).
Identifying export trade as a catalyst for sustainable economic development, Fasanya said that through export trade, Nigeria earns vital foreign exchange, increases her revenue base and foreign reserve and avoid trade deficit.
“The observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) once ranked Nigeria as the 49th largest export economy in the world, having exported goods worth 47.8 billion dollars and imported goods worth 39.5 billion dollars.
“Nigeria’s non-oil export is projected to hit 25 billion dollars by 2025, from 2.7 billion dollars in 2022, according to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
“In the first six months of 2022 alone, Nigeria recorded 2.5 billion dollars revenue in non-oil export,’’ he said.
Speaking on the roadmap to achieving the preset goal, Fasanya stated that the agency intended to undertake the packaging and branding program for SMEs vigorously and continuously in order to meet the aim.
He urged SMEs to adopt cutting-edge branding and packaging to keep their products competitive on the global market, adding that Nigerian companies needed to wake up and start acting creatively, taking calculated risks, and solving problems.
“One of the challenges confronting Nigerian exports is rejection and under-pricing of their products in the international market.
“Some of the reasons adduced for this trend include poor products quality, poor packaging and branding, lack of information on the nature and dynamics of global market and disregard for basic requirements.
“Others are inadequate policy arrangement between Nigeria and export-destination countries and delays at the Nigerian ports leading to expiration of the product shelf life or depreciation of product value,’’ he said.
“They must also pursue the highest standards attainable in production and service delivery so as to remain relevant in the international market,’’ he said.
Fasanya further said that the programme would increase the number of SMEs that would meet AfCFTA standards as well as enhance cluster development and improved common processing facilities and value addition.
Some of the participants commended SMEDAN for the opportunity and said that the programme exposed them to increased access to global business information.
