The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it will aggressively pursue its One State One Product (OSOP) policy in the 2023 fiscal year.
Executive Director of the NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, said this at a meeting of South-East State Coordinators’ held in Owerri, on Thursday.
Yakusak, who was represented by Mrs Esther Ikpora, the South-East Regional Co-ordinator of the NEPC, said that 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 comparative advantage by effectively pursuing grassroots development.
He however, added that the meeting was also aimed at ensuring a zonal harmonisation work plan that would be in tandem with the national programme of the Council.
“We are working towards the same mandate. The future of the NEPC is bright. It is on record that since 47 years of our existence as a Council, we had the highest export figure in 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 dollars to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in year 2022.
He expressed the readiness of the South-East 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.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was attended by all State Coordinators of the NEPC’s co-ordinating offices across the South-East.
