Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it will continue to promote service exports as a central component of its strategy to double Nigeria’s non-oil exports.
The Executive Director of the Council, Mrs. Nonye Ayeni, made this known during a one-day awareness seminar organized for critical stakeholders in Kaduna.
Represented by the Head of the Services Export Department, Mr. Ayodele Sunday, Mrs. Ayeni said the council, in line with modern trade dynamics, is seeking reliable platforms to enable cross-border and digital trade, especially for the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Nonye Ayeni noted that Nigeria had submitted draft commitments under five priority service sectors which includes business/professional, communication, financial, transport, and tourism/travel services in order to unlock market access for the nation’s service providers.
Earlier, in a welcome address, the NEPC Coordinator in Kaduna, Kabir Yusuf Sadoh, said the rationale behind the workshop was to create awareness about service exports and to inform Nigerians of the sector’s potential so they can leverage it and claim their share of the market.
Kabir Sadoh hinted that projections suggest the service sector would account for over 80% of employment opportunities by 2050, hence the need to prepare Nigerians to be among the leading participants in the sector.
He assured that the council, under his watch in Kaduna, would remain focused on public sensitization to educate and enlighten citizens on the council’s objectives and secure their support.
Chairman of the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of Kaduna State University, Professor Abdullahi Ibrahim Musa, reaffirmed the institution’s readiness to support and elevate the council’s activities to greater heights.
He, therefore, urged participants to cascade the knowledge shared during the workshop for the overall benefit of citizens and the country at large.
The one-day NEPC awareness workshop was attended by members of the academia, financial institutions, health specialists, the Guild of Actors, among many others.
COV/MANSUR SULEIMAN PAKI
