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President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday, in Abuja, said that the
federal government will provide an enabling environment to ensure that more
non-oil products are exported from Nigeria.

“The non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy has traditionally
played a vital role in our national economic development, particularly in the
area of providing foreign exchange earnings and revenue for governments,” he
said, at the opening of the Non-Oil Conference, Exhibition and Awards (NNECA)
2010.

He said Nigeria could remain among the poorest countries of the
world if it continues to rely on development paradigms crafted abroad. In the
same vein, the president expressed determination to address the infrastructural
deficiencies which serve as impediments to the nation’s industrial growth.

His administration, according to him, has taken cognizance of
infrastructural deficiencies and was ready to address the hydra-headed
problems, which he said was vital to rapid transformation of the economy.

Self-developed paradigms

Mr. Jonathan, who was represented at the event by Jubril
Martins-Kuye, the minister of commerce and industry, said the only way the
country can prepare itself for 2020 as one of the most developed twenty
economies in the world is to have a self-developed paradigm.

“The vision must be indigenous, not imported or borrowed, and
must be owned by the people. Only visions that are owned by the people, because
they have been arrived by consensus after extensive dialogue and debate can
become shared national values,” he said.

Stressing that the singular most visible and significant
contribution of the non-oil to the socio-economic well-being was in the area of
providing empowerment and employment for the vast majority of Nigerians, he
regretted the self-actualization of Nigerians had been jeopardized as a result
of the real sector not performing to create jobs.

Mr. Jonathan noted that the non-oil sector of the economy has
traditionally played a vital role in the nation’s economic development,
particularly in the area of providing foreign earnings and revenue for
government.

The president urged the nation to learn a lesson from Malaysian
exports in palm oil, which has its origin in Nigeria, by applying their mastery
of applied science and technology harnessed for industrial domestication of the
palm oil.

Jose Maurel, director of special advisory services at the
Commonwealth Secretariat, in his address at the event, noted that for Nigeria
to improve its non-export figures, it should prioritise development of adequate
infrastructure, especially power and ICTS.