Dangote to CBN: Replicate what we did to encourage rice production in the country

*Nigeria earned $2.9bn from non-oil sector export in Q1 2022 – Emefiele 

*Fintech needs more support from the CBN-Jim Ovia

The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote  has called on the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  to replicate what it did to encourage rice production in the country to the production of wheat and dairy in the country.

Dangote  who , spoke in a keynote address on Wednesday, at the 7th Annual Edition of the Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar, themed “Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business”, said  that Nigeria currently imports $2.8 billion worth of wheat and $1.4 billion worth of dairy in the country.

“Cash crops have been major component of non-oil exports and there is room for improvement. Nigeria has abundant variety of solid minerals but the sector constitutes only 0.2% of GDP.

“We can generate $20 billion from solid minerals. We need to have a steel industry. We should establish an NNPC equivalent to hold stake on behalf of government,” he said.

The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele  who was at the trade seminar, said that the country achieved about $2.9 billion from the non-oil export proceed as at the first quarter of 2022, adding that  the non-oil sector revenue in export is quite low compared to other major African countries.

 He said no country in Africa should be better than Nigeria in non-oil sector export even as he noted that the CBN RT200 FX programme aimed to achieve $200 billion in foreign exchange earnings from non-oil proceeds over the next 3-5yrs.

“The global economy is changing rapidly before our eyes, globalisation is being dismantled, policy of raising rates by advanced countries are having adverse effects in our economies, the frontier markets are finding it difficult to source for finance. We cannot rely on other countries to get our country moving. Non-oil sector holds enormous potential to contribute to employment and create wealth.

“We created a rebate scheme to encourage the export of non-oil products in the country, in April 2022 CBN made the first rebate payment of N3.5 billion for the first quarter. Earlier in the week, we authorised rebate payment of N20 billion for the second quarter. Zenith Bank received about 75% of what was paid in the first quarter and above 50% of the rebate for the second quarter.

“I encourage Zenith Bank to do more in non-oil export. I encourage all other banks to join us in this programme. Since we launched the programme in 2015, the value of non-oil export has risen to $2.9 billion as at Q1 of 2022”.

The Chairman of Zenith Bank, Mr. Jim Ovia noted that fintech needs more support from the CBN in terms of financing because that is the area that will make Nigeria grow faster in terms of non-oil export.

“Let’s look at what has made other countries successful, most of the advanced nations don’t have oil. The top ten capitalised firms in the world are not oil companies. We can create non-oil services here in Nigeria. Like Flutterwave has valuation of $3 billion, Opay, $2 billion; Interswitch above $1 billion among others. Those are areas our GDP is developing and need to be encouraged,” he said.

The Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Ebenezer Onyeagwu said the non-oil sector which existed before the discovery of oil is a treasure pot of the country.

“We find out that this is the area the country could tap to enrich the economy, with changes in policies the sector has gotten some good impact. We introduced a disciplined and record-keeping export system. We partnered with Export Promotion Council for growth and development. CBN in q1 2022 introduced incentive with rebate for exports, the initiative has seen repatriation of non-oil proceeds to the country,” he said. 

Nigeria’s non-oil sector grew by 6.08 % (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 5.28 points from the preceding quarter which recorded a growth rate of 3.58%, compared to the rate recorded same quarter of 2021 and 1.34% points higher than the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q1 2022) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) the sector was driven in the first quarter of 2022 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Trade; Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Agriculture (Crop Production); and Manufacturing (Food, Beverage & Tobacco), accounting for positive GDP growth.

In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 93.37% to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2022, higher than the share recorded in the first quarter of 2021 which was 90.75% and lower than the fourth quarter of 2021 recorded as 94.81%