On Wednesday, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) reiterated its commitment to fostering export inclusiveness by harnessing the untapped potential of Nigerian youths to become export champions.

The executive director of NEPC, Ezra Yakusak, said this at the official inauguration of the Youth For Export Programme (YEP) in Abuja.

The programme has the theme “ Promoting Youth Inclusiveness on Non-oil Export: A Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Growth”.

YEP is an initiative of NEPC designed to empower the active and intelligent Nigerian youth population to become export champions.

According to Mr Yakusak, youths constitute about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population and should be catalysts for economic growth and development.

He said the country was not properly harnessing the strength and skills of its growing youth population to accentuate socio-economic growth.

Mr Yakusak acknowledged the challenges encountered by different entrepreneurship projects targeted at youth employment that had been initiated in the past.

He said that in response to the challenges, NEPC initiated YEP to mainstream youth participation in the non-oil export sector as part of the council’s Export for Survival campaign.

Stating the importance of the programme, the NEPC boss said it would, among other things, provide Nigerian youths with the necessary skills and knowledge to engage in export activities.

“The programme is aimed at building youth capacity by addressing export skill gaps, standards and quality requirements for export products; documentation and procedural issues and the technicalities involved in offshore trading.

“ The programme will therefore provide training and mentorship on the export process, market research, product development and access to funding and markets,’’ he said.

The director-general of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed commended NEPC for the initiative while praying for its success.

According to Mr Ahmed, some corps members are already benefitting from the initiative and have started exporting goods, while others have indicated interest.

Similarly, the permanent secretary Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, Evelyn Ngige, commended NEPC for the initiative targeted at youths and economic development.

Meanwhile, the director-general of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Abubakar Fikpo, said the programme would support President Bola Tinubu’s desire to enhance the capacity building of the Nigerian youths.

(NAN)