Nigerian exporters are calling on the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Olajumoke Oduwole to probe the show of shame exhibited by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC at the just concluded China-Africa expo.
A Director of the agency was seen in a now viral video displaying bathroom rubber slippers and hand sanitizers on the Nigerian pavilion shelf.
Exporters have since expressed disappointment as clips of video recording of the director identified as Mrs. Obidike on X, (twitter) was all over the internet.
An embarrassed Nigerian lady who visited the pavilion was suspected to filmed the Nigerian pavilion manned by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, according to the lady in the video, “Our Nigerian booth is as boring as spirit. look at how people are trooping into the boots of other African countries like Rwanda, it is annoying, I am disappointed the Nigerian pavilion is very scanty”.
In the video a man was seen questioning a lady in blue skirt who was later identified as a director with the NEPC, Unimpressed with Nigeria’s performance at the event the man quipped, “I am asking you, where is the best of Nigeria, the camera now focused on products displayed by NEPC which includes bathroom slippers, hand wash, sanitizers, detergent and some few agro products in a jar. The Nigerian pavilion was nothing to write home about.
Exporters called on Nigerians to go watch the video TVC news carried it their programme, “Trending Now”. Apart from other mediums the video had 268,000 views on X, and was reposted 1,160 times with various negative comments against the federal government.
“Drawing from the comments, it is clear that both the ministry of Trade and Investment and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council failed in their responsibility to mobilise exporters or entrepreneurs to participate in the China-Africa expo.
“There was no advertisement in any news media inviting exporters to participate. Even the NEPC website that was supposed to be a platform for dissemination was not utilized for this purpose, it was therefore not surprising that no exporter participated. From information gathered, the Chinese government extended this invitation over seven months earlier, followed by several reminder”.
Exporters added that, it was only a few weeks to the event that the ED NEPC Ayeni endorsed Nigerian participation. Shortly after the Chinese-Africa expo portal was closed making it difficult for NEPC officials to participate. No one understands the reason for the preparation and the delay.
The exporters lamented that the China-Africa expo is more than just an exhibition, it is a platform for trade matchmaking, sectoral discussions, youth Entrepreneurship initiative, in view of the multi sectoral nature of the expo, there was no way a single person could have successfully managed the entire pavilion.
“The person couldn’t have been able to participate in other events too, the officers just sit and stare even when people were making enquiries, she was obviously overwhelmed. The outing was bound to fail woefully. Unfortunately the shame and embarrassment was on Nigeria not on NEPC or the ministry of Industry Trade and Investment.
