In their accelerated efforts towards rescuing the economy and repositioning it on the path of steady growth, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Bankers’ Committee are aiming at the possibility of the country raking up to two hundred billion dollars ($200 Billion) from Non-oil exports.
To that effect, they are holding the first of its kind non-oil summit which has been scheduled for Thursday this week in Lagos.
The summit with the theme: “Setting the Roadmap toward Achieving RT200 and Non-Oil Export for Development,” will focus on the current situation in the economy, the commitment to addressing the challenges as well as driving the development and improvement of the non-oil export sector.
A statement issued by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of the, CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, says the one-day summit specifically seeks to identify challenges across the non-oil export value chain from the perspectives of all stakeholder groups.
It States that the summit is also aimed at providing understanding of the current situation and the implications to Nigerian citizens and the economy as a basis for urgent action.
According to the statement , other objectives of the summit include deepening understanding of trends and lessons from other countries including regional and global market outlook; share best practices across the agriculture exporting value chain and guidance on how to obtain financial assistance and also to identify opportunities for improving the performance and viability of non-oil exports.
Specifically, it says the CBN and its partners, through the summit, seek to launch the development of a comprehensive Non-Oil Export Optimisation framework.
It was gathered that the summit, which is expected to extract voluntary commitments, and initiatives to support the non-oil Export Renewal Plan, will feature a keynote by the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele as well as experts presentations and panel discussions to address the country’s current non-oil export sector situation and proffer recommendations.
Participants at the summit will cut across stakeholders in the non-oil sector including but not limited to the mineral resources, manufacturing and agricultural export sectors including primary agriculture players; aggregators, storage, logistics and freight transport operators; exporters; road transport agencies; security agencies and government ministries at Federal and State levels.
The CBN and the Bankers’ Committee in February 2022 unveiled the RT200programme, a set of plans, policies, and programmes designed to increase the nation’s earnings exclusively from non-oil exports to US$200 billion in FX repatriation, within the next five years.
The RT200 initiative is designed to be implemented through five anchors namely Value Adding Exports Facility, Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal; and the hosting of a Bi-annual Non-Oil Export Summit.
