Non-oil export key to Nigeria’s economic renewal – Experts

Experts unanimously called for support of Nigeria’s non-oil export sector, yesterday, at the seventh Annual Edition of the Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar, themed: ‘Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business.’

The event was held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, and virtually.

In his goodwill message, Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, called for concerted effort towards diversifying Nigeria’s export base through promotion of non-oil exports.

Highlighting the importance of non-oil export to the nation’s economy, Ovia pointed out that Nigeria exported cocoa and several other non-oil products for years before oil was discovered.

He cited example of the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan, which was built with proceeds from cocoa exports. He pointed out that many countries in the world, such as Japan and China, are successful because they are doing a great deal of innovation, production and manufacturing of goods and services.

According to him, Nigeria should also look at promoting its non-oil export sector through technology, to create giants like Apple, Tesla, and Google. “And we already have technology companies in this mould in Nigeria, such as Flutterwave, which has a valuation of $3 billion, making it more valuable than some banks in Nigeria.”

Speaking further on the enormous potential in Nigeria’s non-oil sector, Ovia highlighted the phenomenal growth of Nigeria’s emerging financial technology (Fintech) companies, such as Flutterwave, OPay, Interswitch, Kuda and Paystack, with market valuations of $3 billion, $2 billion, $1 billion, $500 million, $200 million, respectively.

According to him, this underscores the enormous opportunity in the Fintech space. He also noted that the most capitalised companies in the world, such as Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Tesla, Visa, etc., are not oil companies but are in the technological innovation space.