represent between 40-70% of their export
values on products such as, mineral fuels
and oils, products of distillation, machinery
and electrical appliances, mechanical
equipment, nuclear reactors, aircraft
vehicles and parts, articles of iron and
steel, except for the United States which
has cereal among its top five products and
China which has Articles of apparel and
cotton at significant export values, almost
$lbn. On the other hand, 94.3% of
Nigeria‘s total export valued at $50.9illion
was from export of mineral fuels, mineral
oils and related products meaning less than
6% of exports was from non-oil with the
highest being cocoa at 1 .1% for $619,701
Million. The importance of this analysis is
to get our minds thinking clearly about the
prospects for Made in Nigeria in global
trade.
From the analysis above, it is clear that
Nigeria‘s import bill consists mainly of
manufactured, high technology and value
added products. In promoting Made in
Nigeria therefore, we must find where the
gaps are, articulate a vision and chart a
critical pathway. The Chief Executive
Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion
Council in his article ―Export for Survival‖
published in March 2016 declared that
Nigeria does not have a foreign exchange
problem, but an Export Inertia problem! In
the article, he described how with an
export-driven agenda, Nigeria‘s economy
would grow exponentially with implications
for jobs, investments and local businesses.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council is
currently promoting the Zero Oil Plan,
which synchronizes targets and actions
over a ten-year period to move Nigeria‘s
non- oil export earnings to $30 billion by
2025.
Interestingly, examples abound about how
countries have re-engineered their
economies through export driven agendas.
Asia comes to mind. In the eighties and
part of nineties, Taiwan in the Nigerian
street vocabulary was synonymous with
imitation or fake. So the description of an
inferior imported electronic good was
―Made in Taiwan‖. On the other hand,
inferior local goods particularly leather and
apparel were described as ―Made in Aba‖.
Over the years, there has been a
transformation. While Taiwan may have
produced what it consumed, it looked
beyond consuming what it produced. It
went beyond its shores to create wealth
and improve lives in Taiwan by pushing its
cheap products overseas, penetrating new
markets, gathering market intelligence,