Grace Cofie
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has blamed insurgency over the non-export of produce from the North- East.
This was disclosed by the NEPC North-East regional coordinator, John Okorie, at the sensitization workshop organised for exporters on the legal aspects of packaging for exports.
Okorie said that though there were massive potentials in the North-East for the export of some products, harnessing produces for export has been stalled by insurgency, causing no export from the region.
The coordinator added that exporters out of the region preferred to use Lagos and Kano for exporting their goods overseas.
He said, “Insurgency is a key, a major factor to the lack of export from the region. People no longer go to the farms; people no longer sit at home to do what they are actually supposed to do.
“But as the insurgency is brought under control and awareness is being created, I believe we are going to export from here.
“With restoration of peace to the troubled region and sensitization embarked by the NEPC, the council is now witnessing a surge in registration of exporters from the North-East.”
Ben Achor and Julie Onmoke, both from the legal unit of the NEPC, were present at the sensitization.
They noted that legal issues involved in packaging for export is one major issue Nigerian exporters have had over the years and was the challenge of packaging product to meet international standards.
They said the product sold in Nigeria usually wouldn’t sell in the international market simply because of packaging and urged exporters to pay very serious attention to the design and packaging of their products.
