The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it will aggressively pursue its “One State, One Product” (OSOP) policy this fiscal year.
Executive Director of the NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, said this at a meeting of Southeast State Coordinators’ held in Owerri, yesterday.
Representing Mrs. Esther Ikpora, the Southeast Regional Co-ordinator of the NEPC, he said although the Council was already implementing the OSOP policy, modalities would be put in place to ensure its sustainability.
He said that the OSOP policy was aimed at ensuring that states could focus on export products over which they had a comparative advantage by effectively pursuing grassroots development.
He did, however, add that the meeting was also intended to ensure a zonal harmonisation work plan that would be in sync with the Council’s national program.
“We are working towards the same mandate.” The future of the NEPC is bright. It is on record that in the 47 years of our existence as a council, we had the highest export figure in the year 2022.
“We can achieve this by further strengthening our OSOP policy through effective grassroots development and hopefully, we’ll surpass the gains of the previous year,” he said.
Speaking, the NEPC’s State Coordinator, Imo Coordinating Office, Owerri, Mr Anthony Ajuruchi, noted that non-oil exports contributed $4.8 billion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year.
He expressed the readiness of the Southeast region to support Yakusak and his management team in helping to drive the growth of non-oil exports with the aim of helping Nigerians live above the poverty line.
“Despite obvious challenges in the region, we remain committed to working collaboratively with our Executive Director and his management team to empower more Nigerians through non-oil export business.”
“The management team of the NEPC is not sitting on its oars and we are prepared to fully cooperate with the team so as to achieve our mandate in 2023,” he said.
All state coordinators from the NEPC’s coordinating offices in the Southeast attended the meeting.
