Valentine Okafor
The Federal Government is working towards enhancing business environment in the non-oil exports sector and ensure the harmonisation of policies among relevant Government Agencies by streamlining its operational guidelines for efficiency in service delivery.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Senator George Akume, stated this when a delegation from Stakeholders Engagement on the Findings of Assessment Visits of the Non-oil Pre-Shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs), and Monitoring and Evaluation Agents (MEAs), in the South-West, South-South and North-West Geo-Political Zones led by the Coordinator, Monitoring and Evaluation Agents (MEAs), for Act Global Depository, Caroline Onwubuya visited him in Abuja.
Akume disclosed that the Nigerian Government carried a comprehensive assessment visit to the fields of operations of the PIAs and MEAs appointed to oversee the export of non-oil products in order to identify policy gaps in non-oil exports and proffer workable solutions.
“The exercise aimed to assess the performances of the MEAs and PIAs agents with exporters to identify policy gaps in the non-oil exports. And to also evaluate the effectiveness of promoting non-oil exports as a strategy for economic growth, review achievements recorded by MEAs and PIAs since 2022 and identify challenges hindering the export of non-oil products,” he said.
He outlined some of the key challenges in the findings from the assessment exercise to include non-transmission of copies of Clean Certificate of Inspection, (CCI) to the point of exit; non-availability of regular train wagon services from the northern to southern part of the country; high tariff by terminal operators and inconsistency in the release of Export Expansion Grant (EEG), among others.
He hinted that a technical committee would be inaugurated to streamline the operational guidelines of non-oil exports for seamless and effective service delivery.
The Coordinator, Monitoring and Evaluation Agents for Act Global Depository, Caroline Onwubuya, said in a speech that the mandates of MEAs includef monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the Pre-Shipment Inspection Agents, PIAs, to ensure that the quantity and quality of non-oil exports comply with the extant export regulations and the prices quoted thereof under the Nigerian Export Supervisory Scheme (NESS).
Also speaking the Coordinator, Pre-Shipment Inspection Agents and Operations Manager, Anglia International Services Ltd, Hyacinth Louis Chukwu, highlighted some challenges posed in the exportation of non-oil products to comprise delay in accessing Nigeria Export Proceeds from commercial banks; duplication of roles by multiple Agencies of Government in issuance of official documents; poor road network to convey export-bound goods, poor infrastructure at the ports, among others.
He expressed the need for a single window where exporters can forward their documents for the relevant agencies to work on them.
The Assistant Director, Commodity Development and Desk Officer, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Akeredolu Toyin Johnson, lauded the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the key stakeholders for demonstrating unwavering commitment towards ensuring that Nigeria’s exports are globally competitive, compliant and reliable.
Johnson, said that the report of the assessment visits would go a long way to reposition the non-oil export of Nigeria.