According to the Executive Director and Chief Executive of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Olusegun Awolowo, the council had severally met with the Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President and the Minister of Trade, Commerce and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, on the need to re-introduce EEG scheme to boost the manufacturing sector.
Awolowo who was represented by George Enyiekpon at the Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors held in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, last week, which was sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria, noted that the suspension of the EEG had adversely affected export of manufactured goods which had drastically reduced the country’s volume of exports.
“We have made it clear to the government to re-introduce EGG to save many companies that are folding up. Some have folded up already and the Vice President has promised us that something will come up soon,” he stated.
Noting that the inability of Nigerian exporters to meet delivery targets has destroyed the confidence built over the years by overseas importers of Nigerian products. He said the exchange rate situation in the country had been difficult for business transactions adding that the introduction of EEG scheme was useful for the diversification of Nigeria’s revenue base.
According to him, the policy recorded a major success with the volume of non-oil exports increasing from $700 million dollars in 2005 to $2.9 billion dollars in 2013. “It also led to an increase in value chain expansion in terms of processing manufacturing capabilities which resulted in significant new investments and job creation in the manufacturing sector,” he said.
The EEG scheme which was introduced in 1986 to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil both as a source of income and foreign exchange earnings was suspended by the federal government in 2014.
