Ugo Aliogo
The Founder, B. Adesipe Associates Limited (BAA Consult), Dr. Biodun Adedipe, has stated that one of the outcomes of a non-oil export policy is the fact that the federal government can grow its reserves, noting that export- led-economics enjoy relative stability and suitable growth.
He also hinted that to be export led goes beyond natural endowment, “it is more about clarity of what to produce to the rest of world, but the important issue is whether our economy is growing. Certainly, our economy is growing just like any other economy globally.”
Adesipe disclosed this recently at the First Bank Non-Oil Export Webinar with the theme: “Building Sustainable Non-Oil Export in Nigeria; Harnessing Opportunities within the AfCFTA Treaty and Agro Commodities.”
He explained that oil accounted for 88.75 per cent of foreign trade in first quarter of 2021, but only 7.49 per cent of the GDP in third quarter, pointing out that it is a disconnect of sort having weak leakage to the rest of the economy, “agriculture sector accounted for 29.94 percent, trade was 14.93 percent, and ICT was 14.2 which made these sectors dominant.”
Adebimpe remarked that the prediction from economic watchers is that the economy is growing and it is expected to grow a little bit more than the growth rate of the population in 2021, stating that economy growth rate is not enough, but there should be relationship between imports and exports.
According to him, “There was a monthly bill of N2.3 trillion ($5.61 billion) in H1 2021. Imports have expanded strongly to exceed export in Q2 2020 to Q2 2021.
Exports in Q1 2021 was 29.8 percent, while import was 70.2 percent, then in Q2 2021 export was 42.2 percent, while imports was 57.8 percent. Nigeria export was largely of hydro-carbon against our imports. So, you will find out that imports have been growing steadily. Going to 2022, the trends to watch includes democracy and autocracy; pandemic to endemic; inflation worries; future of work; crypto growth and climate crunch. Anytime we import from any country, we are creating job in that country, therefore if we begin to strengthen our non-oil export, that means we will be creating jobs locally in Nigeria.”
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer, First Bank Nigeria, Dr. Adeshola Adeduntan, noted that the bank is a key component of the economic infrastructure of the country, adding that in running their businesses, which is expansive, “we have also used focus on how we can use our reach to the government to achieve itself economic and growth objective.”
He noted that the event is very important given the focus of the current administration to diversify the earning base of the economy.
He said: “We are successful as a nation in diversifying the economic base of the country from oil. The range of benefits that will come to us as a nation include employment, incremental or additional sources of foreign exchange to the economic either through foreign direct investment, proceeds from export commodities.
But more importantly, when you look at the challenges we are contending with it today, which is the scarcity of forex, we believe that pushing export trade is the major way by which the country can work better through diversification of sources of foreign currency inflow into the country. This is a very important issue, we at First Bank, we are always in the forefront of nation building. We have decided to use our reach and platform to orchestrate a national discourse around this platform that we believe can the economic well-being of the country.”
