By Martha Agas
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has organised a sensitisation workshop for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Plateau on how to access incentives for export of their goods and services.
The workshop with theme: “Administration of Incentives as a catalyst for boosting non-oil export in Nigeria”, was held on Thursday in Jos.
Speaking at the event, the Jos Regional Coordinator of NEPC, Mr Samson Idowu, said that the meeting was organised to create awareness for business owners on the incentives in NEPC to enable them to become beneficiaries.
He said that incentives would help in making domestic products competitive in the global market and encourage expansion of businesses.
“We need incentives to encourage expansion of exports, encourage businesses to export certain types of goods and services. to facilitate greater market penetration and encourage domestic value-addition.
“For increased international competition and the demand for foreign markets. Inadequate incentives is a disincentive to export,” he said.
He explained that pre-shipment incentives which was mostly for starters in the export business would help in reducing their financial burden.
He added that the post-shipment, which included mostly of tax or legal provisions, was designed for businesses who are already exporting their products to enable them expand.
The NEPC official said that their incentives schemes, over the years, had helped in cushioning cost and eliminating financial burden on exporters.
He said the result has prompted the organisation to increase its awareness outreaches to educate members of the export community to take advantage of the schemes for their benefits.
He said that the event was also to create public discourse to generate advocacy for the government and legislature to formulate more policies and laws which guarantees the availability of resources for export incentives.
In his presentation on the theme, Mr Idongesit Essien, the Assistant Director of the council’s Export Development and Incentives Department, said that a well articulated export plan was critical in granting incentives to businesses.
He said that the council had Export Development Fund (EDF) and Export Expansion Grant as incentives which it “awards to qualified applicants who must be registered with the council.
He said that opportunities of the EDF was usually advertised for applicants to upload their documents, including their proposals to the council’s portal for processing.
He said that NEPC was conducting several free training accross the nation to build the capacity of businesses through value addition for export, saying it would have multiplier effects on the economy of the country.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, the Chief Executive Officer of Elchava Global Ltd., Mr Jonah Markham, thanked NEPC for their efforts in boosting the growth of the non-oil sector and encouraging export.(NAN)
