The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, yesterday, in Lagos, met with top 100 exporters in the Nigerian economy, and vowed to address regulatory and bureaucratic challenges in the exporting of goods and services.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Bashir equally promised to tame impediments and corrupt practices in the customs processes and procedures at the port in order to speed up exporting activities.

They spoke in Lagos on Tuesday at the Ministerial Export Consultation organised by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

Top exporters at the event identified some of the barriers to the exporting activities including infrastructure, incentives, interest rate, export grant, overlapping duties of agencies among others.

Others expressed worry over rejection of some Nigerian made product and asked the federal government to address the challenges.

The Chairperson of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion Group (MANEG), Odiri Erewa – Meggison called on the government to tackle the diplomatic issues working against Nigerian made goods.

“We need to make sure that our goods are not rejected when they get to those countries.

“So, there is a lot of diplomatic work that needs to happen to make sure that made in Nigeria goods are accessible and accepted when they get to their destination,” Erewa – Meggison said.

Responding, the minister told exporters that the government is “Determined to make sure that the regulatory and bureaucratic challenges, which are well known to us, are systematically addressed.”

Oduwole said  “Not only are we supporting Nigerian exporters of goods and commodities, we are also supporting exporters of services, which is one of the lowest hanging fruits for giving Nigerian youths the opportunity to earn foreign exchange while living in Nigeria by exporting their services and talents.  In the area of digital trade,  Nigeria is going to be a leading dominating force in that regard.”

She admitted that there’s a lot of work to be done, saying  “The president is committed to this; we are also going to establish and reinvigorate our commodities exchange.”

In his remarks, Bashir disclosed that all Customs processes would be automated at ports from next year to fastract exporting activities.

“Never are we going to put too much emphasis on import at the expense of export. 

“Never are we going to allow our processes and procedures to constitute impediments to the development of exporting. Never are we going to allow corruption and corrupt practices to stand in the way of export development in Nigeria,” he said.