AWEP wants FG to exploit AGOA's initiatives to boost export

Date:

The African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) has urged the Federal Government to leverage on the opportunities offered by the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) to drive the Nigerian economy.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

AWEP’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs Eme Ugwuegbu, told news men  on Wednesday in Abuja that this would help the government to boost its non-oil export revenue in the face of the current dwindling nation’s finances. .

NAN reports that AGOA is a U.S. preferential trade programme established on May 18, 2,000, that provides duty-free access to the 3 trillion dollars for thousands of products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries.

The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.

After completing its initial 15-year period of validity, the AGOA legislation was extended on June 29, 2015 by an additional 10 years.

Ugwuegbu expressed her optimism that Nigeria could double its non-oil export revenue if effective strategies were targeted toward leveraging on the benefits of the initiative.

She said that the reality of the dwindling revenue from crude oil should propel the government toward improving on the standards of its non-oil products for greater acceptability in the US.

“Sadly, Nigeria is yet to fully take advantage of the opportunity to increase its input in the US market.

“US is not just going to accept any goods that is not of standard from us just because of the AGOA initiatives. The onus is upon us to meet with the requirements to exploit the opportunity.

“I believe the first opportunity was a learning process. We should reposition to leverage on the extension, learn from the pitfalls and make adequate information available to exporters on how to access the opportunities.”

She urged the Federal Government to emulate other African countries like South Africa, Lesotho, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius; who had maximised the AGOA opportunities to boost their trade in the US.

Ugwuegbu reaffirmed the commitment of AWEP to assist women entrepreneurs in the country to bridge the skills gap towards leveraging on the benefits of AGOA initiatives for their businesses.

NAN reports that AWEP provides firm-level technical support to sub-Saharan African women entrepreneurs.

The support aims to help women entrepreneurs access the networks, knowledge, and markets required to grow their businesses, export their products, create jobs and economic growth in their countries.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) committed five million dollars to scaling up the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP).(NAN)

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Access Holdings to pay N1.80 as final dividend to shareholder

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Access Holdings has revealed plans to...

Police gun down two notorious bandits in Benue

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Men of Operation Zenda, a Joint...

Army declares eight wanted in connection with the k!lling of its officers in Okuama

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Nigerian Army has declared eight...

Naira Appreciates Against Dollar at the NAFEM Window

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Naira’s euphoric appreciation against the...
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Discover more from Naija247news

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading