More Exports Please

At a lunch conversation I had with a development economist, we talked about Nigeria and voiced our disappointment with its economic situation. I asked him how he would know that the country was doing well and he said he would be delighted to go to his local grocery store in the United Kingdom and see products labeled ‘’Made in Nigeria’’.

This tweet by John Ashbourne crossed my feed some days ago and it made me sad. In the replies to the tweet, he linked to a story in The Punch Newspapers which quoted the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council as saying;

“Out of 10 containers that come into Nigeria laden, only two or three are taken out with exports. We can do even more. We can do even 12.”

I am uncertain as to whether the data is correct, however, it is not difficult to assume that we have not given exporting the attention it deserves. Nigeria’s top five exports (2021 data) are Crude Petroleum ($41.8bn), Petroleum Gas($8.52bn), Special Purpose Ships($1.25bn), Cocoa Beans($779m), and Refined Petroleum(667m). The value of total non-oil exports annually is roughly 1% of GDP. I also took a snapshot of the economic complexity index compared to some major African economies.

We need to do better

A thriving non-oil export sector will vastly improve the learning and productive capabilities of many firms in the economy. It will encourage managerial, technical, and technological transfers which increases productivity. Exporting will ease the balance of payment pressures that causes the perennial concussive exchange rate policy by increasing foreign exchange earnings for the country.

We keep hearing about ‘’diversifying the economy’’ and ‘’building a post-oil economy’’. Perhaps it is time to match words with policy coherence and coordination.