‘Nigeria to earn $52bn yearly from agro-allied products’

The Managing Director, ABX World, a Nigerian courier and cargo firm, Capt. John Okakpu, has projected that the country can make about $52.2 billion from exportation of agro-allied products busiannually if the government focuses its attention on the sector.

This is as he revealed that the company is partnering with Arik Air and the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, SAHCOL, in the airlifting and ground handling of agro-allied products out of the country.
Speaking with aviation correspondent in his office in Lagos during the week, Okakpu disclosed that ABX WORLD had reached out to the Federal Government to leverage global agro-allied sub-sector while breaking the challenges pose by mono-produce nature the country practices at the moment.

In his statistics, he explained that for instance, if one million out of over three million Nigerians living in the United Kingdom alone purchases food items from the country at the cost of $100 weekly even with the current exchange rate, Nigeria could not earn less than $5.2billion from the sub-sector annually.

He hinted that agriculture was taking back its leading contributor position to the global economy; hence oil and gas sector was seriously in shambles globally, stressing that Nigeria with its enormous potential and opportunities must not be left behind.

He charged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to eschew interest on the oil and gas sector, which is currently facing uncertainty in the world.

He said, “We know the price of crude oil today. Nigeria is largely a mono-dimension economy focused on crude oil extract, export and import.

Our banking sector is no way to be reckoned with the rest of the world. God wants to reposition Nigeria, which is the reason we are faced with the crude oil price downfall.