NEPC mulls web portal to resolve over N1 trillion EEG claims

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has announced plans to launch a web portal to promote transparency in the processing claim for exporters under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme.
  
In a letter to the Vice President, made available to The Guardian, the Organized Private Sector Exporters Association (OPEXA) had earlier in the year, noted that they were “constrained to draw [the VP’s] attention to the continued hardship and ill-treatment being inflicted upon the businesses and investors in the strategically important export sector especially as relates to the Promissory Notes (PN) program of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
 
With over N1.2 trillion in EEG claims, OPEXA’s executives stated that the federal government had previously approved a Promissory Note (PN) programme in 2017 which was finally passed by an Act of the National Assembly in 2018 for the payment of N195bn in claims due for payment in January 2019.
 
The Executive Director, NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, explained that the web portal which would be launched in January 2020, would greatly ease the stress of physical presence and travelling associated with the former way of processing claims, saying that with the introduction of a web portal, exporters can conveniently capture their baseline data, claims’ applications and submit online from the comfort of their homes and offices.
 
Awolowo at a one-day training of EEG beneficiaries on the EEG web portal in Lagos, disclosed that the training in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was convened in fulfilment of spearheading the administration of incentives, in tandem with international best practices for the development of non-oil export sector of the economy.
  
Awolowo represented by the Regional Coordinator South-West region, NEPC, Samuel Oyeyipo, explained that to achieve the goals of diversification of the economy from oil dependence, technology had to be introduced to the non-oil sector to improve the country’s ranking on the ease of doing business.
 
“The diversification of the economy from oil is one of the focal points of economic development at the centre of this current government’s mandate. I strongly believe that the automation of the EEG processing through the introduction and efficient implementation of the portal would significantly improve the performance of the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, “ he added.

The Deputy Director, Incentives NEPC, Lawal Dalhat, said the portal was created in line with government policy to improve the ease of doing business within the nation.“The platform provides opportunity for all stakeholders, processing government agencies, auditors, exporters and relevant bodies to submit, review and access information regarding processing of claims,” he stressed.“We believe that the automated program will further boost non-oil exports as more exporters will be encouraged to participate in subsequent export transactions.” he said.