Lagos — THE Federal Government has announced a 45.5 per cent increase in the value of non-oil export in the country in the year 2007.

Putting the nation's non-oil export value in 2007 at about $1.38 billion, the of Minister of Commerce and Industry, Engr. Charles Ugwuh, said the figure is up from $751.5 million announced by the central Bank in 2006.

The $628.4 million increase of the 2007 figure over the 2006 figure represents about 45.5 per cent growth in the nation's income from non-oil products.

Ugwuh said this increase in the value of non-oil export was an indication that the economy was on the right track. He said to sustain the momentum in the non-oil sector, his ministry refused to endorse the European Union/Africa Caribbean and Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement.

He explained that signing into the EPA would have in a few years eaten deep into steady growth that is now being witnessed in the non-oil sector in the country.

"The EPA is a contentious issue but we must understand the logic of what the government is doing. We have about 35 to 40 per cent cost handicap as a result of our poor infrastructure so if we throw our boarders open to all sorts of European goods like the EPA demands, our industry would be killed. So this is why Nigeria is careful in dealing with the issue.

"Our non-oil export figure now stands at about $138 billion in 2007. In 2001 the figure was around $240 million. Now we have tried to increase this figure to almost $1.4 billion and all this revenue is at stake if we endorse the EPA. Whereas the cost of not signing into the ERA is in the region of $100 million and $200 million," Ugwuh added. Ugwuh said the present administration is not just seeking any kind of investment from the international investment community.

He said current administration is in search of investments in strategic sectors such as petrochemical."The Gulf of Guinea will be the major supplier of hydrocarbons to the power the world and so if we have petrochemical plants, Urea plants and other fertilizer plants, we would be able to get into the international market not just with our primary product - petroleum but with value added petrochemical products.

If we sell a tonne of unrefined petroleum, we probably earn about $200 but when we add value to that one tonne of petroleum, we can earn as high as $800 to $1,600 depending on the amount of value added," he said.

"You cannot grow this economy by simply selling crude oil. To grow the economy we must earn between $100 billion and $200 billion annually and this can only happen through value addition to our premium commodity, which is petroleum."

Ugwuh said the days are gone when foreigners came into Nigeria to package imported milk powder into small sachets or turn granulated sugar into cubes and called it investment in industry. He said such investment were merely cynical investment and is of very little or no benefit to the country and its people.

He said it was in this light that the Federal Government has decided to take very serious look at the importation of tomato paste into the country. He said it did not make any sense for Nigeria, which is a heavy producer of tomato in one breath to be the heaviest importer of tomato paste in Africa, consuming 4000 to 5000 tonnes of tomato past monthly.

Speaking on the revival of the textile industry, he said: "If we try to revive the textile industry the way it is currently configured at the moment we will go broke again in a few years. If we do not make polyester and add to cotton we cannot sell out textile products at prices competitive with the current global market prices.

Only when we introduce polyester can we make shirts and garments that can compete in the international market," Ugwuh said.

Ugwuh explained that this is the reason why the Federal Government plans to channel the N70 billion textile resuscitation funds both towards cotton production and towards the acquisition of machines that will help in the effective combination of cotton and polyester in the production of textile products.