Buhari Lauds NEPC Boss over Non-oil Export Drive

President Muhammadu Buhari, has commended the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Segun Awolowo for his commitment and efforts in driving non-oil export growth.

It would be recalled that the present administration has been focusing on diversifying the nation’s economy away from hydrocarbon resources.
According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) the non-oil sector accounted for most of the growth recorded in the economy.

In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 90.39 per cent to the nation’s GDP, lower than 91.47 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2017 and 92.65 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The President made the commendation through his Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina

in a statement in Abuja to congratulate the NEPC boss on his 55th birthday marked on September 27, 2018.
Buhari joined the Awolowo family, friends and professional colleagues of the Chief Obafemi Awolowo scion in celebrating his years of diligence, commitment and vision.

According to him, these virtues have culminated into exceptional leadership as he serves the country.

The President congratulated the NEPC boss for the strides taken and repositioning the institution, to drive down the philosophy of exploring non-oil markets outside the country, while encouraging inward growth of industries.

Buhari prayed God to grant Awolowo more years of good health, wisdom and strength to continue serving the country.
Meanwhile, the NEPC boss restated his commitment to take the Nigerian export to the next level, saying that the council is introducing different initiatives to ensure that the sector contributes its quota into the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said plans are underway to review Nigeria’s export regulations to drive the nation’s non-oil export, pointing out that the move was to ensure export regulations in Nigeria are simple, clear, and more importantly not unreasonably costly to exporters.

“Regarding Nigeria’s export regulations we are in the process of a comprehensive review of the steps, costs, and efficacy of implementation,” he added.

He stated that Nigeria has come a long way, but still has some work to do, pointing out that exporters are to manage regulations on two levels – starting with export regulations in Nigeria, and ending with import regulations in target markets of its products