The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has said that the country exported 1.186 million metric tonnes of non-oil products valued at $2.765bn (N428.57bn) in 2011.
The non-oil export figure, according to the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. David Adulugba, represents an increase of 19.15 per cent over the $2.32bn (N359.6bn) recorded in 2010, and 61.97 per cent over that of 2009.
Adulugba, who gave the statistics on Friday in Abuja, however, said the 2011 figure was "a far cry from what it should have been" due to the high incidence of unrecorded exports.
He said the high incidence of unrecorded exports had been a major challenge to accurate reporting of the performance of the non-oil sector in the country.
To address the challenge, Adulugba said the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment was currently making moves to establish border markets at some strategic locations.
The NEPC boss, however, expressed optimism that with an average annual growth of 20 per cent in the last five years, non-oil export would hit $3bn (N465bn) by the end of this year and well over $4bn (N620bn) by 2015.
He said, "A handful of challenges inhibiting optimal performance of the sector include inadequate funding, restricted access to credit facilities, infrastructural deficiency, weak logistics to support supply chain, dominance of primary commodities and low productive capacity.
"Notwithstanding the challenges, Nigeria's export is not only growing, the markets and products are diversifying. Two years ago, the country exported 90 different products to 103 countries. As at now, over 117 products are being exported to different countries. Going forward, the council will enhance the development of new products and markets, while sustaining the existing ones through various programmes and projects."
Adulugba, lamented that the country's non-oil exports were still being dominated by raw commodities and a few products with value addition.
"There is the need to step up the value chain, diversify from commodities and empower the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises through entrepreneurship development as they constitute the bulk of the actors in the non-oil sector," he added.
The NEPC boss said the Federal Government's objective of boosting non-oil exports would enable the council focus more on agro-allied industries as well as improve the packaging and labelling standards of made-in Nigeria products.
The Punch