Economy takes bashing as best non-oil export constitutes 4% of total

A five-year analysis of the International Trade Centre data pinpoints the source of Nigeria’s current economic trauma as a blatant failure to diversify away from oil,  with the country’s best performing non-oil export within the period constituting only 3.8 percent of total non oil exports.

The data show that rubber is Nigeria’s most performing export product, while cocoa is next in value in the non-oil segment, with only 1.7 percent share.

Of the $539.34 billion worth of exports between 2010 and 2014, crude oil and distillation products recorded 89 percent share, reflecting the country’s penchant for oil and neglect of the non-oil sector over the years.  

The ITC data collated by BusinessDay, further show that while rubber occupies 3.82 percent, cocoa shared 1.7 percent  within the period. Similarly, raw hides, leather and skins (other than furskins) contributed only 1.15 percent.

Finished manufactured products made insignificant contributions to the export trade, with aluminium occupying 0.20 percent, plastics 0.17 percent and machinery/nuclear reactors& boilers 0.16 percent.

Other products exported within the period included fertilizers, cotton, lead, tobacco, coffee, tea, fish and crustaceans, among others.

“Nigeria has spent so much time supplying primary products such as cocoa and rubber to the world,” said Imo Itsueli, former chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), at a foreign policy dialogue organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).