She made the remark during a ministerial export consultation held in Lagos, where she applauded the top 100 exporters who had contributed to the growth of the economy.

Oduwole emphasised the importance of exports in driving economic growth, creating jobs and enhancing foreign exchange earnings and called for collaboration amongst the agencies and exporters to make the economy work.

She noted that the ministry’s support was not only for Nigerian exporters of goods and commodities, saying “we are also supporting Nigerian exporters of services, which is one of the lowest hanging fruits, for giving Nigerian youth the opportunity to earn foreign exchange while living in Nigeria by exporting their services.

She promised the exporters and agencies that all their valid points raised will be addressed, saying that “the President has given me the matching orders and together with colleagues, we are going to deliver this for the Nigerian economy.”

Also, permanent secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nura Rimi said stakeholders’ consultation engagement is tailored towards strengthening Nigeria’s export sector.

“This gathering marks a significant step forward in the Ministry’s commitment to fostering inclusive engagement with stakeholders towards advancing Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda and our collective effort to enhance and expand our Nation’s export capacity.

“Consultation provides us with a platform to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities shaping Nigeria’s export landscape. We are here united by a shared commitment to improving the effectiveness and competitiveness of our export sector. As a nation, we recognize the critical role of exports in driving economic growth, creating jobs, enhancing foreign exchange earnings, and positioning Nigeria in the competitive global marketplace.”

He emphasised that “the Ministry remains steadfast in its mandate to create enabling policies and frameworks that enhance export competitiveness. Through the feedback and insights from this engagement, we aim to fine-tune interventions, tackle critical points such as market access, regulatory, bottlenecks, and infrastructural constraints, and ensure alignment with global best practices.”

On his part, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), CGC Adeniyi Wale urged exporters to drive Nigeria’s economic growth.

Wale commended exporters for their contributions to the country’s economy and called for increased momentum in export growth. He noted that the Nigerian economy is moving in the right direction, with a slight increase in GDP from 3.9 to 4.2.

He attributed this growth to the efforts of exporters and pledged the support of the NCS in addressing challenges facing the export sector.

In a statement made available to Techeconomy, Toluwase Moyan, the Minister’s special assistant (Media), she said such reports are ‘an extreme misrepresentation of the facts’.

“We wish to categorically state that there is no line item in the proposed budget of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment referring to any “Foreign Trip to Geneva”, the statement reads.

“Rather, the only mention of ‘Geneva’ in the proposed budget is with respect to the maintenance of the Nigerian Trade Office in Geneva, captured as ‘External Trade Sector, Geneva (WTO)’, which may have been misconstrued as ‘Foreign Trip to Geneva’.

According to the Trade minister, the total amount (for Nigeria’s Trade Office in Geneva) in the appropriation for 2024 is ₦1,610,183,599 with the breakdown is as follows:

1. Personnel Cost: ₦805, 379, 820
2. Overhead: ₦204, 058, 434
3. Capital: ₦600, 745, 345

“For clarification, Nigeria, as an active player in global trade maintains an office in Geneva responsible for representing and defending Nigeria’s multilateral trade interests in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), both headquartered in Geneva Switzerland.

“Expectedly, the Nigerian Trade Office, Geneva has obligations, overhead and maintenance costs as with any organisation, that must be met. In fact, the current debt owed by the Nigeria Trade Office in Geneva as captured in the budget is ₦499,000,000.00, and it was deemed necessary to propose a budget that will service Nigeria’s outstanding debts in Geneva and maintain Nigeria’s respect and global standing amongst the comity of nations.

“Please be assured that the Ministry is committed to prudence, transparency and accountability,” the statement reads