Our Reporter: STEVE AGBOTA
Nigeria’s non-oil export generated a total trade volume of about $2.97 billion in 2013, a review done by Diamond Bank Plc, has shown.
According to the Trade Products Manager of the bank, Mr. Idoko Sylvester-Onoja, the bank’s critical review shows an increase of about 16 per cent growth compared with the $2.58 billion in 2012.
Sylvester-Onoja who stated this in his presentation at a workshop on Enhancing Non-Oil Exports: the Diamond Bank Solution, organised by the bank and Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in Lagos, said the financial institution discovered that the products responsible for the huge growth in the non-oil exports are from the manufacturing sector, agro-allied sector, food and beverage services.
He added: “Again, we discovered that Netherlands has become number one destination for Nigeria’s non-oil exports products. Netherlands has taken over from United States of America, which used to be number one for the products. In terms of contribution in 2013, Netherlands accounted for about 26 per cent of the total trade volume for non-oil exports, while United States recorded about $84 million, which was far less than Netherlands that recorded about $584 million in contribution.”
He said that the nation’s non-oil sector has begun to discover new market in Southern Africa states like Namibia, Lesetho and Swaziland and also discovered new market in Eastern Africa nations like Ethopia and Tanzania, saying that government now supports export sector in the country.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop, he said Diamond Bank has come out with a solution by designing various products that would enhance non-oil exports sector by partnering with NEPC.
He explained: “We realised that the key problem in financing export business in Nigeria and most of them are not structured while some do not have collateral. In solving this, we developed a solution in partnership with DHL and this allows to build credit around the whole export activities.
“What happens is that NXP, which is a document approved by the government to register non-oil exporter is open through Diamond Bank and the customers key into Diamond Bank’s DHL offer so you can take complete ownership of the shipment from the port of loading, customers warehouse and deliver directly to the buyer,” he explained.
Source : SunOnline
