Owing to the slump in the international prices of crude oil as
well as decline in the volume of import shipment into Nigeria due
to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the revenue, which the
Federal Government hopes to earn from the seaports is expected to
drop by 75 percent by the end of 2020.
Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports
Authority (NPA), made this prediction on Thursday during an
interactive session on Webinar tagged, ‘Non-Oil Exports: Disrupting
Nigeria’s Growth Cycle’, which was organised by BudgIT.
According to her, about 191 million metric tons of export cargo
passed through the nation’s ports in 2019, 78 percent of which was
crude oil cargo while the remaining 22 percent was non-oil
export.
“Nigerian crude shipment is tied to exportation and it
contributes the highest revenue of the ports. This underscores the
importance of diversification of the economy through non-oil
exports in order to reverse the trend,” Usman said.
Usman, who pointed out the need to encourage local investors and
make domestic investment a priority, said that as a large country
of consumers, Nigeria needs to increase local production in order
to earn foreign exchange through export.
Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO of the Nigeria
Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) predicted that foreign direct
investment (FDI) into countries in Africa is expected to fall by
30-40 percent in 2020-2021.
She emphasised the urgent need to not only attract more foreign
direct investment but to also increase production capacity
in-country in order to grow the non-oil export.
Sadiku, who listed countries such as United States, China,
Singapore, Netherland and United Kingdom as top recipient of FDI
globally, said that Africa, which contributes 17 percent of global
population, is only able to attract 3 percent of global FDI.
“Whether oil or non-oil export, investors are looking for one
thing, which is a conducive environment, financial return as well
as sustainable and available asset,” she stated.
According to her, Nigeria needs to encourage domestic investors
by increasing the rate of incentives extended to domestic investors
via tax, removal of administrative and regulatory bottlenecks,
quick delivery after care /investors care, and improvement in
business environment.
She called on multinationals to diversify their production base
without concentrating on one region.
Ugo Obi Chukwu, publisher, Nairametrics, who noted the need to
do away with reliance on crude oil as a nation, said that Nigeria
would continue to surfer currency depreciation, if the country does
not diversify.
He noted that a country that rely on oil to earn revenue
especially foreign exchange, would not develop.
Owing to the slump in the international prices of crude oil as
well as decline in the volume of import shipment into Nigeria due
to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the revenue, which the
Federal Government hopes to earn from the seaports is expected to
drop by 75 percent by the end of 2020.
Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports
Authority (NPA), made this prediction on Thursday during an
interactive session on Webinar tagged, ‘Non-Oil Exports: Disrupting
Nigeria’s Growth Cycle’, which was organised by BudgIT.
According to her, about 191 million metric tons of export cargo
passed through the nation’s ports in 2019, 78 percent of which was
crude oil cargo while the remaining 22 percent was non-oil
export.
“Nigerian crude shipment is tied to exportation and it
contributes the highest revenue of the ports. This underscores the
importance of diversification of the economy through non-oil
exports in order to reverse the trend,” Usman said.
Usman, who pointed out the need to encourage local investors and
make domestic investment a priority, said that as a large country
of consumers, Nigeria needs to increase local production in order
to earn foreign exchange through export.
Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO of the Nigeria
Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) predicted that foreign direct
investment (FDI) into countries in Africa is expected to fall by
30-40 percent in 2020-2021.
She emphasised the urgent need to not only attract more foreign
direct investment but to also increase production capacity
in-country in order to grow the non-oil export.
Sadiku, who listed countries such as United States, China,
Singapore, Netherland and United Kingdom as top recipient of FDI
globally, said that Africa, which contributes 17 percent of global
population, is only able to attract 3 percent of global FDI.
“Whether oil or non-oil export, investors are looking for one
thing, which is a conducive environment, financial return as well
as sustainable and available asset,” she stated.
According to her, Nigeria needs to encourage domestic investors
by increasing the rate of incentives extended to domestic investors
via tax, removal of administrative and regulatory bottlenecks,
quick delivery after care /investors care, and improvement in
business environment.
She called on multinationals to diversify their production base
without concentrating on one region.
Ugo Obi Chukwu, publisher, Nairametrics, who noted the need to
do away with reliance on crude oil as a nation, said that Nigeria
would continue to surfer currency depreciation, if the country does
not diversify.
He noted that a country that rely on oil to earn revenue
especially foreign exchange, would not develop.