The Federal Government is taking steps to clear the backlog of payments owed to exporters under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) while restructuring the scheme to make it sustainable, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole has said.
Oduwole spoke at a stakeholders’ engagement on the Export Expansion Grant Scheme backlog in Abuja.
She explained that the EEG was a Federal Government scheme designed to support non-oil exports by making Nigerian products more competitive in regional and global markets.
The minister said the scheme had faced difficulties in recent years, adding that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration inherited outstanding payments that had gone unpaid since 2020.
‘Though the EEG scheme has had some difficulties in the past few years, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has inherited quite a few of the scheme’s outstanding payments, considering the fact that it has not been paid since 2020,’ she said.
Oduwole said the non-payment was linked to the validation and verification of claims submitted by exporters.
She added that the EEG was an inter-ministerial scheme involving agencies including the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment anchors it as an export promotion tool through the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
‘This meeting today is about the engagement with exporters on two things: the pathway to clearing the backlog, and the pathway to restructuring the scheme by making it sustainable,’ she said.
According to her, the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s plan to deliver President Tinubu’s $1 trillion economy target under the Renewed Hope Agenda, with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment tasked with leading economic diversification and prioritising non-oil exports.
Oduwole said the government had worked on the scheme for the past two years, including efforts to address outstanding issues.
She recalled that she engaged exporters in November 2024 and then worked to clean up aspects of the scheme before the latest stakeholders’ meeting.
The minister said Nigerian non-oil exporters had recorded growth in both volume and value over the past two years, attributing the development to exporters’ efforts.
She said the government intended to continue incentivising exporters sustainably because of their potential to create jobs and expand the global reach of Nigerian products.
‘We’ve been working in tandem with market access and trade agreements, including AfCFTA,’ she said.
Oduwole added that the government’s work over the past 40 months included measures to support Nigerian businesses, including restructuring the EEG as part of those efforts.