Abuja – The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and industry (ACCI) has advised the Federal Government to revive moribund operators in non-oil sector to encourage more exports.
It said this would help to diversify the economy from only crude oil export.
The chamber gave the advice in Abuja on Thursday in a statement issued and made available to newsmen by the Chamber President, Mr Tony Ejinkeonye.
Ejinkeonye said that the chamber was worried by the state of the nation as Nigeria recorded negative trade balance in the first quarter of 2016.
“As the Nigerian economy remains in despair, it has become worrisome to us in the private sector and indeed entire Nigerians on how we can survive the economic hardship.
“Recently, Nigeria recorded a negative trade balance in the first quarter of 2016 which is a clear indication and a wake-up call for the government to swing into action.’’
The ACCI president advised that government should look inward to resuscitate export activities across the non-oil value chain given the crumbling state of the oil sector.
“The report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade at the end of the first quarter of 2016 stood at N2, 723.9 billion.
“This figure was N1, 206.5 billion lower than N3, 517.4 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015, representing a 22.6 per cent decline in trade balance between Nigeria and the world.’’
Ejinkeonye said the report also showed that the negative trade balance was as a result of falling export.
“It is against this backdrop that we are calling on the Federal Government to consider revisiting the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme which was originally initiated to motivate exporters.
“The Federal Government should encourage export based activities in a bid to diversify our economy from the mono-export market.
“It is now evident, given the merchandise trade statistics, that the suspension of EEG would continue to affect the non-oil sector growth which has been recording poor performance in the last four year’’.
Ejinkeonye stressed that there was the need for the Federal Government to re-introduce the EEG and ensure transparency in its administration for the growth of non-oil sector and overall interest of Nigerians. (NAN)