PEBEC rues cumbersome, expensive Nigeria’s agro-export procedure

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has said complexities in agro-export processes are hindering the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

PEBEC Project Manager, Ayokunnu Ojeniyi, said this recently at the multiagency stakeholders’ enlightenment programme on key reforms of PEBEC, under the National Action Plan on agro-export, organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).

Ojeniyi said an exporter faces challenges of moving from one place to the other to execute export processes because it is cumbersome and expensive.

He said many of the exporters cannot engage in best practices because they do not have the knowledge of export trade, let alone the documents to present for the smooth flow of agro-export business.

The PEBEC project manager stressed the importance of knowing the stipulated types of packaging for each product, being conversant with the import procedures of the country of destination and having a grasp of the documents to be used for the exporting process.

Also speaking, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Emmanuel Jime, said the economic development of the country centers on exports, as he identified the major challenges facing agro-export in the country as lack of access to finance and market.

“In 2021, the statistics available showed that one percent increase in agriculture products boosted our economic growth by 25 percent. This means that Nigeria has the potential to be much more. However, there are two challenges and impediments: one is access to markets and the second is access to finance for exports. Nigerians need access to finance to be able to sell their goods at the international market,” Jime, who was represented by the Director, Regulatory Services of NSC, Ifeoma Ezedinma, said.

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