TheCable

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it has issued licences to thirteen domestic export warehouse (DEW) operators across all geopolitical zones in the country.

Ezra Yakusak, executive director/CEO, NEPC, said this on Monday during the presentation of letters to four approved operators and one aggregation centre, in Abuja.

The DEW is a recent initiative by the Nigerian government designed to significantly reduce the cost of doing business for micro, small, and medium exporting companies.

Yakusak explained that the initiative is a practical solution to issues relating to logistics and timely delivery of non-oil export, and also addresses issues with supply chain constraints in the export of non-oil products and enhances competitiveness.

“We gave letters to nine approved DEW members and today, it’s another batch of four, making thirteen, ” he said.

According to Yakusak, the aggregation centre serves as a collection point where farmers, suppliers, and merchants collectively deliver their agricultural produce and the exporter will aggregate, sort, grade/standardise to required grades or sizes to meet the required export order quantity before proceeding to the DEW.

He further disclosed that the federal road safety commission has approved unique plate numbers for all DEW vehicles.

“Two weeks ago the ministry of finance wrote a letter to the president to send the export expansion grant to the national assembly for approval, once the president approves, the expansion grant will be sent to the national assembly for approval,” he explained.

On his part, Eze Uzuegbu, one of the licenced DEW operators in Abia state, reiterated the importance of export warehouses to ensure that Nigerian-made goods are not rejected in the international market.