Nigeria made [/size]N428billion from [/font][/size]non-oil export in the last one year, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said yesterday.
[/size] This feat, he said, was achieved through proactive trade policies and incentives for non-oil exports introduced by the Ministry of Trade and Investment.[/size]
The minster disclosed this at the ministerial platform organised by the Ministry of Information to mark the President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s one year in office.[/font]
[/size]He noted that Nigeria had achieved a relatively high level of international penetration currently.
[/size]Aganga said: "In 2011, Nigeria exported non-oil products to 103 countries and territories out of 220. This shows significant improvement over the previous years. There has been an increase in non-oil export to $2.765bn (N428bn at N155/$), representing an increase of 19 per cent.
[/size]"The Export Expansion Grant is critical to the growth of the Nigerian export market. We have had wide consultations across all industry groups within the value chain of each commodity. New guidelines on EEG are expected shortly."
[/size]The minister also disclosed that actual investments in Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones currently stood at $11.1billion , adding that 35,120 new jobs had been created in the zones.
[/size]Giving the breakdown of the investment inflows into the FTZs, the minister stated that the Onne Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone, in Rivers State, had attracted investment worth $6billion, noting that investment commitments in the FTZ were worth $6.7bn in the last one year.
[/size]He added that other Free Trade Zones across the country under the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority also generated $4.4billion investment in the last one year, noting, however, that the Ministry of Trade and Investment was currently reviewing the operations of the Free Trade Zones to make them more functional.
[/size]Overall, Aganga said that Nigeria had secured over N6.6trillion investment commitment over the last one year.
[/size]"The breakdown of the total investment commitment showed that expected FDI into the country stood at N3.9 billion, while investment commitment from local investors stood at N2.7trillion," he stated.
[/size]Aganga also said that the ministry had held over 70 meetings in over 12 countries, resulting in the renewed investment interest in Nigeria.
[/size]A very important achievement, according to the minister, is that in the last one year, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had been able to reduce the volume of sub-standard products from 85 to 74 per cent, with a target of 30 per cent reduction by the end of this year.
[/size]He said notable improvement were recorded with life-endangering products, saying that the volume of substandard electric bulbs had been reduced from 80 per cent to 50 per cent; reinforced steel bar (45 per cent to 30 per cent); while the volume of substandard tyres reduced from 60 per cent to 50 per cent.
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