Stakeholder urges government to promote export trade to drive economy.

Segun Oladipupo    |   

The President General of the Nigerian Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators ((NAFFAC), Prince Adeyinka Bakare has appealed to the Federal Government to focus more attention on non-oil export trade as an alternative to the dwindling oil fortune in the country.

Prince Bakare, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of De Potter Nigeria Limited, decried lack of support by the government to promote export trade.

According to him, government’s inadequate push in the sector has further plunged Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

He urged the government to prioritise exportation of Nigeria’s produce.

Speaking further, Bakare stated that infrastructural decay and bad roads have however dampened the enthusiasm of exporters and logisticians.

He argued that enough space should be designated for export produce at the terminals, saying imported cargoes have taken most of the available space in the port.

He slammed terminal operators for their passive attitude towards export cargoes, adding they prefer handling import cargoes more.

While emphasising the need for barge operations in a bid to encourage export, Bakare who doubles as the Chairman, Nigeria Association of Agriculture Product Dealers (NAAPD), lamented that exportation of Nigerian produce has not gotten the needed attention from terminal operators.

“I think there are some things that the government should take more seriously at the moment to encourage international trade.

“The attention given to non-oil export is not enough and government really needs to pay more attention to export and encourage those in the sector and others who are willing to come in and do business.

“We have a lot to benefit from export but our problem is that the government has not deemed it wise to encourage investors.”

According to him, the total logistics chain has not been effective to encourage export, thus government should look inward towards ensuring the smooth movement of cargoes to the seaports.