Stakeholders, including Jim Ovia, founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc; Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, and Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, have said Nigeria can unlock opportunities in the non-oil sector to boost exports.
Highlighting the importance of non-oil export to the nation’s economy, Ovia pointed out that Nigeria exported cocoa and several other non-oil products for years before oil was discovered.
He cited the example of the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan, which was built with proceeds from cocoa exports, adding that many countries in the world, such as Japan and China, had been successful because they are doing a great deal of innovation, production, and manufacturing of goods and services.
According to him, “we should also look at promoting the nation’s non-oil export sector through technology to create technological giants like Apple, Tesla, and Google.
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