News: NEPC, USAID Plans to Create 350,000 Jobs

NEPC - No fewer than 350,000 new jobs will be created in the next five years if the new Cashew Export Strategy being promoted by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the National Cashew Association of Nigeria and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is properly implemented, an official has said.

The Executive Secretary/ Chief Executive Officer of NEPC Mr Olusegun Awolowo said the development would scale-up the volume of cashew production in Nigeria from its present 120,000 tonnes a year to 300,000 tonnes in the next four years in order to export it.

"As the 6th largest producer of raw cashew nut in the world, and with cashew grown in almost all states in Nigeria, an increase of 20 percent from our current production figure would create more than 344,000 jobs, and $75, 875,000 additional income to the nation".

Mr Awolowo said. Mr Alf Monaghan, the Chief of Party for USAID/Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport Programme (NEXTT), charged Nigerian exporters to build the brand of local products to enable them attract premium pricing in the international market.

The President of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr Tola Faseru, expressed the hope that the support from NEPC and USAID would help the industry to achieve its potentials. "The cashew sector has the potential of earning $2billion annually within the next five years," he said.

Source: DailyTrust