Nigerian govt to increase non-oil exports to Netherlands– Envoy

The Federal Government said it was working earnestly to ensure the diversification of the country’s export base and increase its non-oil exports to the Netherlands, the country’s largest trade partner, even as crude oil keeps dominating Nigeria’s exports.

Nigerian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Oji Ngofa, who made this disclosure in The Hague while briefing journalists ahead of President Muhammadu Bahari’s arrival to the Netherlands on Sunday, expressed delight with the current value of trade between the two countries.

The envoy said top Nigerian government officials would have bilateral meetings with their Dutch counterparts in different areas, noting that the focus of the meetings would be targeted at improving the security, economy and governance of Nigeria.

According to a recent foreign trade statistics data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s total value of exports rose by 20.02 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from the preceding quarter to N4.69 trillion.

Out of these exports, the value of crude oil stood at N3.58 trillion, representing 76.3 percent of the total exports, while non-oil, which accounted for 17 percent of the entire export value in the preceding quarter, rose to 24 percent in the quarter under review.

The Netherlands topped the list of Nigeria’s largest trade partner with over N1.2 trillion value of trade in the first quarter of 2018.

Exports from Nigeria in the quarter, which were mainly sent to the Netherlands in the quarter, stood at N963.5 billion, representing 23.2 percent of the total value of exported commodities.

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The country, however, stood behind China to emerge the second largest import destination for Nigeria in the review quarter with N305.80 billion worth of goods.

Reacting to the statistics, Ngofa said the Netherlands “has a healthy trade surplus with the Netherlands,” but noted that “a majority of the value of the exports are petroleum based.”

Recall that President Buhari had left Nigeria for the Netherlands on Sunday to enable him participate in activities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague.

During his visit, the President and his delegation are expected to have a separate roundtable with some Dutch Chief Executive Officers of companies based in Nigeria with a view to urging them to expand their investments, especially in agriculture sector among others.

 

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