EXCUCTIVE SUMMARY
CIVIL SOCIETY EXPORT PROMOTION CONFERENCE 2021
Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria in collaboration with Nigeria Export Promotion Council, presents Civil Society Export Business Promotion Conference 2021. It is for the economic recovery of our dear nation, Nigeria through trade promotion and educating the public on the Nigeria Export business opportunities and other export services already been opened for public access, even at this material time of our economy crisis, to be able to tap into the NEPC’s resourcefulness with respect to export matter in Nigeria, leveraging on the existing structure and the opportunities imbedded in export business in Nigeria.
The conference is billed to stimulate citizen’s response to export local products to other part of the world, using the vehicle of civil society well-structured network, for mass mobilization of Nigeria citizens, to further strengthen citizen’s engagement with government on promotion of diversification of Nigeria economy from oil-based economy, to a robust private sector-driven economy. The conference will censor on exportable products and raise public awareness about what is possible for export and what is not possible within export frameworks. The program will serve as public enlightenment platform and for positive information dissemination.
The conference will x-ray areas of export challenges been experienced by Nigerians and proffer possible solutions in order to increase revenue generation and expand the nation’s economy.
Theme: Harnessing and Accessing the Opportunities Available in Export business in Nigeria, for rapid Economic Growth
X-RAYING THE NATION’S ECONOMIC
Initiative for leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria, wish to bring to your attention the economic situation of our dear nation Nigeria, with emerging challenges with respect to revenue generating, the present reality has systematically categorized the economy into parts, one is physical services rendered for profit and been taxed in the process by the government, while the other is categorized as content embedded intellectual services which is yet to be
captured by WTO under e-commerce arrangement, where services are offered without physical presence, e.g a company in Lagos offer a service to another company in Abuja and is delivered through an email to that company and payment is made, and have no presence in Abuja whatsoever, but continue to make money from the process of such business engagements.
It simply means that, if a company develop a solution or has any intellectual property, is giving out to a company in Belgium, which the company can give it to another company to be paying money for the right to use the solution; instead of categorizing it as a business income, it is simply called royalty. The difference is that business income is taxed at 20% and royalty is taxed at 10%, simple reclassification of income can make government lose huge revenue.
The challenge of governance and government for that matter is that, revenue is going to continue to drop in terms of tax as a ratio of government revenue, unless government starts adopting some aggressive measures and expanding the export base of the nation, which we believed necessitated the government decision to remove fuel subsidy and increase electricity tariff, and giving export waivers to prospective exporters, which we believed is right step in the right direction to further cushion the effects of covid-19 pandemic economic impact on the citizens.
The prevailing challenges of COVID-19 pandemic have further necessitated the urgent need for governance operations to be fully digitalized in order to meet up with the leadership demands of the people at the quickest possible time while maintaining physical distancing to further reduce the spread of the dreaded virus in workplaces in Nigeria.
The present economy situation of the country is worrisome, due to covid-19 pandemic challenge, which threatens the livelihood of already impoverished Nigerians for over eight months, due the fact that businesses were shot down and nothing was working at a time, the attendant effects are the backlashes we are currently facing as a nation, e.g paucity of funds and other economy challenges, which necessitated the need for the government to borrow money, to be able to pay salaries and run the nation’s budget.
From the foregoing, low export of Nigeria local products, has advertently impacted the nation’s foreign exchange value, negatively, which is grave to the economy, looking at Nigeria debt servicing at a percentage of government revenue, which is almost 90 percent currently, the government is left with 10 percent of the total revenue generated to work with; it is unprecedented and totally unacceptable; it is therefore, expedient and most imperative for the government to continue to borrow money, unapologetically, in order to fund the nation’s budget, due to revenue short-fall.
It is in the light of the above realism, that we proposed the Civil Society Export Business Promotion Conference 2021, developed to stimulate citizens response to economic opportunities in export business in Nigeria, to raise mass awareness on how Trade Support Institutions in Nigeria can assist all prospective exporters to achieve their desired goal in export business, due to abundance opportunities given to specific exportable products, for easy, smooth and quick export of made in Nigeria products to the world.
It is time to leverage on the opportunities embedded in Nigeria Export Promotion Council, to further build the capacity of Nigeria export business arena and utilize Nigeria export business atmosphere that will positively increase revenue for national growth
The program shall serve as veritable platform to place the economy of Nigeria in positive light in the public domain; for holistic national discourse, to further stimulate citizens’ response to export businesses and opportunities in Nigeria, to boost the Nation’s economy from the over reliance on petroleum that has been the bane.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE
- To build public confidence in export business in Nigeria, for mass participation
- Create harmonious synergy between the Civil Society Organizations and the Nigeria Export Promotion Council for continuous promotion of export business in Nigeria
- Open up opportunity to discuss on how CSO can help raise export business public awareness across the states of the federation.
- To correct all misinformation about export business in Nigeria, within the rank and file of Civil society Organizations
- To assist government, expand export business to further increase the level of mass participation in export business in Nigeria, through our nationwide network outreach capacity
PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED:
- Fostering institutional mechanisms and frameworks for a sustainable Export business promotion in Nigeria, for economic growth
- Consolidating support across board to attain desired height in export business in Nigeria, through partnerships for sustainable national development
- Engendering global best practices in export business in Nigeria, through public and private collaborations for economic development; the exporter’s standpoint
- The role of Civil Society in export business promotion among Citizens; a trusted and viable widespread vehicle for mass mobilization.
‘’The civil society awareness and sensitization vehicle is the fastest means of reaching the vast majority of Nigerians, across the nooks and crannies of the society, in a bid to balance public perceptions and correct wrong public insinuations against organizations or public office holders.’’
We believe that the outcome of the workshop will constitute policy formulation through recommendations from participating guest speakers and civil society delegates drawn from the six geo-political zones of the federation to discuss how the system can be better improved. In the end, the workshop will come up with well-articulated position on prevailing challenges and the ways forward to further build resilient future populace to be successful in export business in Nigeria through engagements to engender national productivity.
The role of civil society organizations in public awareness advocacy is needed in this material time, in the 21st century, due to public communication intricacies
and challenges in terms of information reach out,which strategically placed the civil society organization in a vantage position, to further interface with citizens and reach the people even at the grassroots, with respect to information about export business across the rank and file of the society, to drive home the message of advocacy on the need for Nigerians to cease the opportunity in export business, to further leapfrog the nation’s economy to an enviable height.
It is against this background that we applaud the Trade Support Institutions in Nigeria readiness and the effort in reaching out to the populace through the vehicle of civil society networks, to strengthen positive collaborations, geared towards national growth, even as we birth: Civil Society Export Business Promotion Conference, on the 9th August, 2021, in Abuja, and to reach out to all the zones afterward, to further underscore the need for citizens to get involved in export business for economic empowerment.