The fashion sector alone presently accounts for 37 per cent of e-commerce revenues to Nigeria’s economy, the Executive Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Dr. Ezra Yakusak has revealed.
Yakusak said records available also show that the fashion including textile and footwear sub-sector remains the second largest contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) after food, beverages and tobacco according to the latest Statista 2020 figures.
The NEPC Chief Executive Officer [CEO], said given the present circumstances, the country has no option but to support the growth of its non-oil revenue sector for her economy to recover fast.
Yakusak stated this yesterday at the official launch of Agogo Africa in Abuja. Agogo Africa is a private organization established to expose the African fashion and textile industry to the global market while providing an opportunity for sourcing raw materials and the fashion industry player’s needs in production processes.
Yakusak explained that the objective of the launch is to create an innovative e-commerce platform that will connect the creative industry to the International market especially now that more emphasis is being placed on e-commerce around the world.
He said that it is no longer in doubt that sectors such as the apparel, garment, arts and craft, cosmetics and the beauty industry have continued to make tremendous contributions to the growth of the nation’s GDP.
He stressed: ‘’Available statistics from ecommercedb.com indicates that e-commerce transactions in 2020 were over $5 billion, presently, it is ranked 35th largest market for e-commerce globally with yearly record growth of 42 per cent.
‘’As of today, e-commerce is one of the fastest-growing industries in the global economy, with yearly estimated growth at 23 per cent and it is projected to be a $27 trillion industry by the end of this decade’’.
He stressed that NEPC is willing to render support to individuals and organizations that present viable services of various sectors all of which form the basis of its partnership with Agogo Africa to launch a credible platform to onboard fashion and related sectors for trading.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Agogo Africa, Lexy Mojo-Eyes said the launch of Agogo Africa will not only expose Nigeria and Africa’s fashion and textile industry to the global market.
Mojo-Eyes said: ‘’We are collaborating with NEPC, DHL, African Union, and other organizations to come out in full to promote, expose Africa fashion to the outside world that will further increase Foreign Exchange for the people of Africa and create massive jobs for the people’’.
