The Federal Government has announced plans to focus on boosting services exports, enabling Nigerians to secure online contracts with foreign firms.
This was revealed by Mr. Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, during the 2024 Access Bank Corporate Customers Forum themed “Nigeria’s Economic Rebirth: Hopes and Implications.”
Edun highlighted that Nigerians can achieve this by capitalizing on the country’s large population and the opportunities available in the ICT sector.
He also noted that the government’s ongoing reforms are already showing positive results, as efforts are being made to increase oil production and improve non-oil exports.
Citing the Philippines as an example, Edun emphasized the importance of a skilled workforce and access to international markets.
He said, “An important area that we must look at when we are looking at non-dominant exports is services. We have the demographics, we have the relatively skilled population, which means that we can export our services,”
“They have the demand, and they have the procedures. So, rather than Nigeria going out to try and export and find markets, we can just piggyback on them. They can sub-contract to Nigeria some of the online services, and some of these centers for providing services online. We can learn from them, benefit from them, and in fact subcontract to them,”
He explained the federal government’s stabilization plan, which included interventions in agriculture, social safety nets, manufacturing, and the scaling up of SMEs. He mentioned that 360,000 farmers would be supported, mobilized, and provided with resources to cultivate 360,000 hectares of farmland.
Additionally, the government expected a yield of 1.4 million metric tons of maize, wheat, cassava, and tubers by January 2025, when the harvest is due. He stressed the country’s need to produce the food it consumes and for export and agro-industrial activities.
In its 2023 report titled ‘Working Without Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work,’ the World Bank noted that the gig (freelance) economy now makes up about 12% of the global labour market.