Nigeria's non-oil export is expected to reach over N2.5 billion between January and June 2022, according to Ezra Yakusak, Executive Director of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), an increase of about 60% over the previous four years.
Yakusak reported to the House of Representatives Committee on Finance that 16 separate exit points resulted in the export of over 200 different products produced by 479 enterprises.
In contrast to the N67 million recorded in the records of the Accountant General of the Federation, he claimed that the agency transferred roughly N121 million to the government's Consolidated Revenue Fund in the fiscal year 2021.
However, there was a disagreement on the status of the N3.5 billion grant the organisation received from the government for its operations between the committee and the executive director.
Members of the committee insisted that the funds were part of the agency's internally generated revenue and that they should have been transferred to the CRF despite the agency's claim that they were intended for its operations in promoting the export of Nigerian goods.
Members maintained that because the agency was entirely supported by the government, its export facilitation duties were already covered in its annual budget.
The Committee decided to meet separately with the agency to learn more about the operations that made the N3.5 billion grant necessary, and they were also given instructions to reconcile their records with the Accountant General's office.
The Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority was instructed to repackage the application and appear before the Committee again on Tuesday after the Committee rejected it due to what it saw to be a disconnected and disorganised presentation.