29 December 2015, Lagos – WORRIED about the current glut in the sale of Nigeria’s crude oil in the international market and dwindling crude oil export, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to embrace its electronic Certificate of Origin (eCertify) as this would help turn around the fortunes of the country’s crude oil sale and open new markets for Nigeria’s crude oil.
In a statement in Abuja, Vice President of NACCIMA, Mr. Billy Harry, lamented that prior to now, the NNPC did not apply for certificate of origin in the export of Nigeria’s crude oil, despite the fact that it is part of the requirements for every export emanating from Nigeria.
He further stated that due to the popularity of Nigeria’s crude oil globally, there are a number of countries who are interested in doing business with Nigeria but are not showing interest because of issues surrounding integrity and good business practices.
He said NACCIMA eCertify would help address the issues that are of concerns in the area of crude oil export trade and help open new frontiers for Nigeria’s crude oil.
He said, “Oil export, somehow, also requires documentation, and of course, Nigeria’s crude oil is known all over the world, so we would encourage NNPC to apply for Certificate of Origin to further help in attracting additional interest to Nigeria’s crude.
“Prior to now, they were not doing that. We advise them to do so, because these are all exports and countries who still today prefer to trade with Nigeria would want to do so as, especially as NACCIMA eCertify would help enhance those values.”
He stated that the eCertify initiative started June 2015, with the support of the Federal Government and other agencies of government involved in export trade. NACCIMA eCertify, he said, is a single source Certificate of Originn for all exportable products and services to the European Union, Asia, North and South America, Caribbean, ECOWAS and all D8 countries.
He said eCertify can be obtained within five minutes after registration of its web portal: www.naccimaecertify.com.
Continuing, Harry said, “We want to make Nigeria good, we want Nigeria’s export business to grow and boom.
We want export business to be the next major revenue earner for Nigeria and going forward NACCIMA is going to be advocating for agriculture and export as a complimentary value for our oil and gas, which we know is something that can be done in abundance in this country.
“And of course, it would create opportunity for jobs, employment, because the more quality goods we are exporting, the more that particular business would expand.”