The Federal Government has begun moves to resolve approximately ₦330.08 billion in outstanding Export Expansion Grant, EEG, obligations, as it launches a major restructuring of the incentive programme aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s non-oil export sector.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Jumoke Oduwole disclosed the development during a stakeholder engagement on the Export Expansion Grant scheme in Abuja, saying the government had been directed to address verified legacy claims while developing a more sustainable funding mechanism for future incentives.
The outstanding obligations are divided into two major categories.
About ₦269.45 billion represents verified claims involving 195 beneficiary companies previously approved under a Promissory Note Programme by the Federal Executive Council in May 2023.
Another ₦60.64 billion consists of stepped-down claims involving 32 companies covering the 2017 to 2020 period.
Together, the figures demonstrate the scale of the backlog confronting exporters and the government agency responsible for administering one of Nigeria’s most important non-oil export incentives.
Government Agencies Begin Reconciliation
Oduwole said the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is working with several government institutions to reconcile and process the outstanding obligations.
They include the Federal Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Office, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Assembly and Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC.
The process is expected to focus on verified claims rather than automatically paying every outstanding request.
According to the minister, only obligations that have passed the required verification, validation and approval procedures will be settled.
That distinction is important because export incentives involve public money and require evidence that beneficiaries actually met the conditions under which the claims were submitted.
Why ₦330bn Backlog Matters to Exporters
The EEG was established to encourage Nigerian businesses to expand exports outside the petroleum sector.
For exporters, incentives can help offset some of the costs associated with producing goods locally and competing in international markets.
Long delays in settling approved claims can therefore create significant financial problems.
Oduwole acknowledged that the backlog had affected companies’ liquidity, investment decisions, expansion plans and general business planning.
That has wider implications for Nigeria’s diversification strategy.
The country has historically depended heavily on crude oil for foreign-exchange earnings. Expanding manufactured and agricultural exports is consequently considered important to reducing that dependence.
But businesses are less likely to make long-term export investments if government incentives are unpredictable or remain unpaid for years.
Tinubu Approves New Export Funding Architecture
The government is now attempting to prevent another backlog from accumulating.
President Bola Tinubu has approved a funding structure under which 40 per cent of monthly Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme collections will be ring-fenced for strategic trade-facilitation and export-incentive programmes.
The money will be channelled through a professionally managed Trade Facilitation Fund.
The objective is to give the programme a more predictable source of financing instead of allowing obligations to accumulate without a corresponding mechanism for settling them.
The restructured EEG is also expected to place greater emphasis on measurable export performance, domestic value addition and expansion of Nigeria’s non-oil export base.
That could mean stronger incentives for businesses that process Nigerian raw materials locally before exporting finished or semi-finished products.
Working Group Gets 60 Days
The government has established an EEG Restructuring Working Group to design the new framework.
The group includes representatives of the Industry and Trade Ministry, Finance Ministry, CBN, Accountant-General’s office, DMO, NEPC and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Group, alongside other stakeholders.
It has 60 days to produce a proposed structure for the reformed programme.
Technology is expected to play a larger role under the new arrangement.
Oduwole said digital systems would be deployed to improve claims verification, data management and transparency, while allowing exporters to track their applications and identify outstanding requirements.
If properly implemented, that could address one of the persistent frustrations surrounding government intervention programmes — businesses submitting claims and then struggling to determine where those claims are within the approval process.
FG Targets Jobs, FX Earnings
NEPC Executive Director and Chief Executive Nonye Ayeni said the reform comes as Nigeria records what she described as its highest-ever volume and value of non-oil exports, alongside growth in the number of exported products and destination markets.
The larger objective is to convert that momentum into stronger foreign-exchange earnings.
Nigeria has enormous export potential across agriculture, processed foods, solid minerals, manufactured products, fashion, pharmaceuticals and other industries.
But becoming a significant non-oil exporting economy requires more than producing goods.
Companies must compete on price, quality, logistics and reliability against businesses from countries with highly developed export-support systems.
The Export Expansion Grant is intended to help close part of that competitiveness gap.
The success of the restructuring will therefore not simply be measured by how much of the ₦330.08 billion backlog the government eventually pays.
As Oduwole argued, the bigger test is whether the public money ultimately produces stronger exporters, more domestic processing, additional jobs and higher foreign-exchange earnings.
For the Federal Government, resolving years of outstanding claims while creating a funding system that prevents another backlog could be an important step towards rebuilding confidence in Nigeria’s export-support architecture.
