South East (SE) is a geopolitical region that consists of Five States in Nigeria namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo State. All five South Eastern States were formerly under the old Eastern region during the first republic of Nigeria.
People from SE are known for their entrepreneurial skills and business acumen which has brought economic development of other regions in Nigeria. People from South East are travellers and they travel far from their region for business purposes.
Aside from crude oil, coal and gas deposits found in some states in the region, each of the states is good in agriculture and produces Palm oil rarely seen compared to quality from other places, cashew nuts and others are notable products from the region.
Governors from states in the region have big ambition of growing the economy of their respective States especially the Governor of Enugu State His Excellency Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah who made known his ambition to grow Enugu State’s economy to $30 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Exportation is not felt by private sectors from the region due to data when in actual sense, private sectors with products origin from South East are heavy in the exportation of agricultural products, services, tourism and others.
In a roundtable stakeholder meeting organized by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council ( NEPC) South East Regional Coordinator at Enugu State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture ( ECCIMA) on Thursday 18th April 2024, a representative of Gojopal Nigeria Limited made it clear that people from South East rarely start their Pre-shipment assessment from South East.
The South East Coordinator of Gojopal Nigeria Limited noted that exporters from South East makes mistake of not starting Pre- Shipment Assessment from South East rather go to Apapa, Lagos or Onne, Port Harcourt Rivers State out of ignorance.
The neglect of not starting Pre-Shipment Assessment from South East gives the export credit to other regions where it was carried out when in reality the product originated or was packaged from South East for Exportation.
The region would need to be serious with starting the export process documentation from the South East so data will reveal the high exportation of goods or services coming from the South East. When there is intervention or incentive for exporters, regions with data of exporters are usually prioritised according to the number following data revelation.
In the program of one State one product (OSOP), each of the states will need to take advantage of their notable product production capacity to leverage on increasing exportation of such goods especially when additional values are added to the raw material in the area of processing and packaging for exportation.
Individuals and private sector organizations are encouraged to take advantage of consultation with the necessary agencies to ensure compliance with preparing products that have export standards.