APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Dr Ezra Yakusak, has reiterated the commitment of the Council to foster export inclusiveness by harnessing the untapped potential of Nigerian youths to become export champions.
Inaugurating the Youth For Export Programme (YEP) on Wednesday in Abuja, Yakusak, said that the programme, which has “Promoting Youth Inclusiveness on Non-oil Export: A Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Growth” as its theme was designed to empower active and intelligent the Nigerian youth population to become export champions.
He stated that the youths constitute about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population and should be catalysts for economic growth and development.
According to him, Nigeria is not properly harnessing the strength and skills of its growing youth population to accentuate socio-economic growth
“The future of Nigeria depends on our ability to harness and invest in human capital development and provide sustainable economic opportunities for youths.
“The export value-chain holds so much untapped potentials which are quick wins for the youths to latch on,” he said.
He acknowledged the challenges encountered by different entrepreneurship projects targeted at youths employment that had been initiated in the past and that the Council initiated YEP to main stream youths participation in the non-oil export sector as part of the its Export for Survival campaign.
The NEPC boss also said that the programme would among other things provide Nigerian youths with the necessary skills and knowledge to engage in export activities.
“The programme is aimed at building youth capacity by addressing export skill gaps, standards and quality requirements for export products; documentation and procedural issues and the technicalities involved in offshore trading.
“The programme will therefore provide training and mentorship on the export process, market research, product development and access to funding and markets,’’ he said.
He disclosed that the project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with Zeenab Foods Limited as a major programme implementing partner and that Zeenab Foods is the operator of the Nigerian Export Trade House in China.
“While the council will provide capacity building, Zeenab will provide mentorship and market access for youth entrepreneurs.
“Already, Zeenab Foods had established the Nigerian Exporters hub (NEXHUB), an online platform designed to connect prospective exporters to niche markets,” he added.
GIK/APA