By Martha Agas
The North-Central office of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it has trained 3,863 Plateau residents on export competency from January 2023 till date.
Mr Samson Idowu, the Regional Coordinator of NEPC, announced this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos.
Idowu said that the council trained the beneficiaries on coffee development, export inclusiveness for women, export readiness, as well as its youth awareness programme for two batches of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in the state.
“In all we have trained 3,863 men, women, exporters, potential exporters in all our six programmes this year.
“The training of coffee is to reposition coffee for increased productivity and competitiveness in global markets because while trade in coffee business is thriving in other parts of the world, that of Plateau is declining.
“So we decided to come in to train 153 Plateau people comprising farmers, marketers and processors in coffee business so as to tap in to global trade in the business,” he said.
He added that beyond the training, the council was making efforts to facilitate access to coffee seedlings to farmers and other support services required for the business.
He explained that its capacity building for 93 women was to assist them in accessing special incentives earmarked for them through their various programmes on promoting the non-oil sector.
“In the same way we organised women in export training. The intention is to articulate those special programmes, special incentives targeted at women so that women in Plateau would be part of the business.
“We realised that women have a lot of roles to play in the wealth and development of our nation but the women in Plateau were not part of this arrangement.
“ So, the essence of the training was to bring them in to teach them and expose them to all these opportunities so that they will be able to be part of the global business, “ he said.
He explained that they trained 3, 542 NYSC members to raise new members of youths to become NEPC`s ambassadors.
He added that 62 residents benefited from its export readiness training where product quality, market, logistics, certification and various requirements of export were discussed.
The coordinator explained that the export competency development programme which had 13 participants was organised to assist in repositioning companies to access various opportunities in export business.
He described knowledge as critical for the thriving of export in Plateau and to ensure the state was extending its agrarian prowess as an export hub for agricultural commodities, solid minerals and other opportunities in the state.(NAN)
