The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on Tuesday tasked Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) to add value to their products in order to meet export standards.
The Executive Director of the council, Mr. Ezra Yakusak, made the call in a seminar at the ongoing 44th Kaduna International Trade Fair, in Kaduna.
The seminar organized by the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) has the theme “Promoting value addition for sustainable growth and development”.
He said there was a need for MSMEs to add value to their product in order to compete with other products around the world when exported while gaining more foreign exchange.
“The importance of value addition in products cannot be overemphasized. Global value chains are increasingly buyer-driven and are determined by value chain-specific quality attributes.
“This includes embedded quality information, globally accepted standard and codification and certificate; with this, products tend to attract more premium pricing,” Yakusak, who was represented by Mr. Samuel Abolajihe, said.
The executive director stated that NEPC was assisting MSME in terms of certification while providing experts to monitor production processes and advise accordingly.
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He added that food products like yam, cassava, plantain, fish, honey, and vegetables among others would have more value when properly processed and packaged for export.
Similarly, the former president, of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mansur Ahmed, stated that value addition attracts high sales and creates wealth.
He explained that there was a need for Nigeria to its trade by scaling production and adding value to production, urging the government to scale up policies that support value addition.
Speaking earlier, the President of KADCCIMA, Alhaji Suleiman Aliyu, noted that in spite of the abundance of solid minerals, agricultural commodities, and other raw materials, Nigeria continues to lose billions of dollars.
According to him, the loss was due to a lack of value addition, handling culture in the production and export process, and focusing more on instant profits received from exporting raw materials.
“It is important for local manufacturers to incorporate significant value addition into their production and export process in order to substantially impact the economy, improve FOREX earning and reduce reliance on oil,” he said.
