A renewed drive to grow Nigeria’s non-oil export earnings from the current 10 per cent to at least 25 per cent took centre stage in Lagos as Polaris Bank joined industry leaders at the NAHCO/NACCIMA SME Exporters Engagement and Capacity Building Forum focused on helping small businesses break through export barriers.
Speaking at the forum themed, “Breaking Barriers, Helping SMEs Navigate Export Procedures for Agro Products and Other Commodities,” the Head of Commercial, Polaris Bank Limited, Ladi Garba, said expanding non-oil exports has become a strategic necessity for Nigeria’s economic survival and resilience.
Garba noted that while crude oil accounts for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, it contributes less than 10 per cent to the country’s overall economic output, a structural imbalance that leaves the economy vulnerable to external shocks and global oil price volatility.
She said the solution lies in aggressively promoting non-oil exports, particularly through small and medium-scale enterprises operating in agro-commodity trade, where Nigeria holds a natural competitive advantage.
According to her, achieving inclusive and broad-based economic growth will require coordinated efforts from government, regulators, financial institutions and trade bodies such as the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), which she commended for its advocacy role in private sector development.
Garba stressed that Nigeria’s export structure must change significantly, calling for a deliberate push to raise export earnings from non-oil sources to 25 per cent, up from the current level of about 10 per cent, describing this as the threshold required to drive meaningful economic diversification, job creation and poverty reduction.
She pointed out that over the past two decades, the naira has lost more than 90 per cent of its value against the dollar, arguing that the situation could have been mitigated if greater attention had been paid earlier to developing the non-oil export sector.
The Polaris Bank executive identified major obstacles confronting exporters, especially SMEs, including port inefficiencies, high export costs, foreign exchange constraints, limited access to finance, quality certification gaps, weak trade facilitation processes, logistics challenges and regulatory bottlenecks.
She explained that beyond financing, exporters require holistic support across the value chain, including access to market information, compliance guidance, working capital, digital transaction platforms and advisory services.
Garba said Polaris Bank is positioning itself to provide tailored trade finance solutions and value-chain-based support to SMEs, helping them navigate export procedures more efficiently and compete in the global market.
She emphasised that simplifying export processes, improving access to information, strengthening compliance with international standards and building export capacity among first-time exporters would unlock enormous potential within the sector.
She also called for stronger public-private collaboration, predictable policies, improved infrastructure and sustained investment in trade facilitation to make Nigerian exports more competitive.
Garba concluded by reaffirming Polaris Bank’s commitment to partnering with NACCIMA and other stakeholders to dismantle existing barriers and accelerate the growth of non-oil exports as a sustainable pillar of Nigeria’s economy.
