FG BEGINS PLANS TO REFORM EXPORT INCENTIVE SCHEME

The Federal Government has commenced efforts to clear outstanding payments under the Export Expansion Grant scheme while also restructuring the programme to make it more sustainable for Nigerian exporters. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, disclosed this during a stakeholder engagement on the scheme in Abuja, saying the government was working to address the challenges that have affected the incentive programme.

Oduwole said the Export Expansion Grant had experienced difficulties, with some payments outstanding since 2020. She explained that the backlog would require proper validation and verification of claims submitted by exporters, with several government agencies involved in the process. The Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria and other relevant agencies are expected to participate in resolving the outstanding obligations.

The minister said the government was pursuing two major approaches: settling verified outstanding payments and restructuring the scheme to ensure it can operate sustainably in the future. The Export Expansion Grant is administered through the Nigerian Export Promotion Council as an incentive designed to encourage Nigerian businesses to increase the volume and value of their exports and improve the competitiveness of locally produced goods in international markets.

According to Oduwole, the reform is consistent with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the administration’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy. She said economic diversification and the expansion of non-oil exports remained important to strengthening Nigeria’s productive capacity, adding that Nigerian non-oil exporters had recorded growth in both export volume and value over the past two years.

The minister stressed that the government would continue to support exporters through sustainable incentives because of the sector’s potential to create employment and increase the presence of Nigerian products in international markets. The restructuring is therefore expected to provide a more reliable framework for supporting exporters while addressing the outstanding claims that have accumulated under the existing scheme.