Nigerian Manufacturers Grew Non-Oil Export By Over 100% In Q1 Of 2018.

It appeared that initiative of the current administration of President Buhari to diversify the Nigerian Economy has started yielding results. This was our findings at 3T Impex Trade Academy based on the analysis done on the recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. According to the data, the contributions of the non-oil export component of the total export done which has remained very low for a long time has started growing very rapidly. The  total non-oil export which was about 4.2% (N171.4Billion) in the last quarter of the year 2017 has jumped to about 11% (N577.6Billion) in the first quarter of 2018. This is also about 100% increase when compared to the same period in 2017. 

This is the first time since 2015 that a quarterly report revealed such a growth in the non-oil export. The previous reports showed that the non-oil export component of the total export from Nigeria in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 10.5%, 4.0% and 4.6% respectively. This recent growth can be attribute to the surge seen in two major sectors which include Agriculture and Manufacturing sectors. These two sectors alone contribute 86.14% to the overall volume of the non-oil export done during the period under review. As a matter of fact, Manufacturing grew by 684.11% when compared to last quarter of 2017 and it single handedly contributed about 73.5% to the overall volume of the non-oil export sector in the same period. 

This significant growth in the non-oil export sector can be attributed to the diversification drive of the Buhari's administration on one hand but more importantly on the other hand is the fact that a lot of Nigerian Manufacturers are waking up to the reality of generating their own foreign exchange through exportation having suffered greatly from the shortage of foreign exchange that bedeviled the economy of Nigeria during the last economic recession. This affected many manufacturers who largely depend on importation for their raw materials by making them to incur huge losses resulting from increased exchange rate and delay in getting the foreign exchange.

This development has further reinforced the prediction of the 3T Impex Trade Academy that non-oil export is the future of the Nigerian economy and in preparation for this, we are currently driving aggressive export education in Nigeria through our Executive Diploma in Export Business Management and Executive Diploma in Export Trade Finance. The admission for the second batch of 2018 is currently ongoing and the certificate is awarded by the American Institutes of Extended Studies.

This increase in the volume of non-oil export is indeed a great news for the Nigerian economy. If this degree of growth can be maintained throughout the four quarters of year 2018 and beyond it will mean that Nigerian economy is truly on its way to real diversification and thereby building effective shock absorber for the shocks of fluctuation in oil prices, reduction in oil sales or decrease in oil production since these were the major factors that contributed to the last economic recession experienced in the economy.

Bamidele Ayemibo
bayemibo@3timpex.com