The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and National Productivity Centre (NPC) have agreed to partner to enhance service delivery to the exporting community through capacity building for trade promotion officers.
The partnership was disclosed by the Executive Director of NEPC, Nonye Ayeni, during a courtesy visit by the Director General of NPC, Mr. Baffa Dan Agundi.
In a statement on Monday signed by NPC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ndubueze Okeke, and made available to THE WHISTLER, the NEPC boss said skills development for trade promotion officers of the Council was critical.
She added that it was a mandatory tool needed to stimulate staff to perform optimally given that it was pivotal for efficient service delivery to the exporting community and the general public.
“We are committed to working with relevant stakeholders to achieve our mandate of developing and promoting the non-oil export sector with the ultimate aim to diversify the economy away from oil” Ayeni pledged.
Ayeni pointed out that for organisations to get value for money, there was a need to provide quality training with specific targets that meet current realities, particularly for a Trade Promotion Organisation like NEPC.
Embracing the partnership, Agundi said the council’s visit was prompted by the need to strengthen the existing partnership between both organisations.
“The NEPC has a lot to do in terms of promotion of trade and diversification of the economy for sustainable and inclusive growth”, he said.
Agundi assured of the Centre’s dedication to exploring more collaborative opportunities with the Council, given the present administration’s mandate to diversify the economy to increase foreign earnings generated from the non-oil export sector.
THE WHISTLER had reported that between January and June 2024, Nigerians exported 211 non-oil products ranging from agricultural commodities to extractive industries, earning the sum of $2.7bn for the country.
This represents a 6.26 per cent increase as against $2.53bn recorded for the first half year of 2023.