Nigeria-Saudi Arabia: Concerned Stakeholders Condemn False Claims About Trade Data, Accuse NEPC Of Making Misleading Claims
A group of Concerned Stakeholders in the export sector have picked holes in the assertion that export statistics between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia showed a record of $270 million noting that there was nothing to prove that this had happened.
Also, there was no provision of evidence of involvement of a single company or a consortium of companies in this respect in the year 2024.
Nigeria’s total agro export trade to Saudi Arabia in 2024, they added, was not even up to $500, 000,00 which had made exporters wonder where the bogus claims had come from.
Talking to Team@orientactualmags.com on Wednesday, they condemned the promo running on media channels including social media platforms asking people to attend a free online training programme on e-commerce.
The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has organized the training programme to serve as a catalyst for export trade facilitation.
‘The promo in question, they noted, began with the anchor man, Sir Abdullah of Easy Sales Export boldly declaring that ‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave me $270 million’.
‘Listening to this opening line created the impression that the promo is a skit or a prank meant to create content on social media. . The promo continues ‘I am not afraid to say it, yes, I am not joking’, the presenter then narrated how President Ahmed Bola Tinubu went to an economic summit in 2024 in Saudi Arabia where he signed a trade deal with the country to export soya beans and red meat worth $270 million.
The narrator further stated how he keyed into the trade deal by exporting agro products to Saudi Arabia. He however failed to indicate the year of export and the specific nature of the agro product he claimed to have exported to Saudi Arabia, and did not clarify if soya beans was included or not.
Clearly, red meat is not an agro product. Considering the various documentations, logistics constraints and bureaucratic bottleneck associated with Nigerian exports, how could he have harnessed or reaped the benefit of a trade deal that is far less than a year.
Although the opening line of the promo might have attracted many views because of its affiliation to President Tinubu , the narrative however is totally false , misleading and mischievous .
It was earlier reported that the Minister of Agriculture , Alhaji Abubakar Kyari had informed the nation of ongoing trade agreements with Saudi Arabia to include the annual export of 200,000 metric tons of soya beans. The minister had said this while talking to journalists at the end of the 142nd National Economic Council meeting. This was apparently the trade deal that the NEPC cited in its promo.
Going by the report credited to the minister of Agriculture , it is clear that the combined value of the 200,000 metric tons of red meat and one million tones of soya beans is far higher than the $270 million quoted in the promo.
The promo might have intended to attract political subterfuge by the NEPC management as shown in constant reference to President Bola Tinubu , it however ended up being a woeful disservice and a PR nightmare for the government.
While the promo did a bad job at trying to project the successes being recorded by President Tinubu administration, it did much worse by directly attacking the government and its stance on key economic issues’ the stakeholders said.
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They also noted that ‘Part of the advert stated that life is hard in Nigeria , fuel is expensive , food prices are high, dollar rate is crazy, people are angry, clearly this is a direct hit at the government’ .
‘One wonders whether NEPC is a government agency under the Tinubu-led administration or its management has pitched tents with an opposition party. There are some issues that even if they are true, it ought not to be uttered by appointees of Mr President.
If one may ask, what then is the difference between the assertion by NEPC management on Nigeria’s economic situation and Eedri Abdulkareem’s song? ‘Tell your papa’.
One would recall that in the song in question, Mr Abdulkareem simply sang ‘ Tell your papa, country hard, …hunger dey, anger dey, to buy food na luxury’.
Needless to say that a few days after its release, this song was banned by the National Broadcasting Commission NBC.
Justifying the ban, the commission stated that it found the song’s content to be ‘inappropriate’ and ‘objectionable’ as it violated public decency and standards on broadcast platforms’ the stakeholders added.
They also gave more reasons why NEPC should be cautioned.
.’Can someone meticulously consider Eedris Abdul Kareem’s lyrics in ‘tell your Papa’, alongside NEPC’s promo ‘Life Is Hard In Nigeria, fuel is expensive, food prices are high, dollar rate is crazy, people are angry’.
If Eedris Abdul Kareem’s song was banned for being ‘inappropriate’ and ‘objectionable’, the NEPC’s promo should also be banned for being outrageously malicious, inciting and a direct affront on the government of President Tinubu. It is worse coming from a government agency. If the management of the NEPC is trying to launder its image, must it ridicule the government?
While probing further to ascertain the veracity of the content of the promo by NEPC, we visited the website of Easy Sales Export,(www.easysalesexport.com/), the company that claimed to have exported $270million worth of agro products to Saudi Arabia. From its website which was accessed at 7:20pm on Monday, 21st April, 2025, the company shared its various success stories without making reference to the $270million export or indeed any export to Saudi Arabia.
There is no indication on its website that the company ever exported to Saudi Arabia talk less of leveraging ‘the $270million trade deal by president Tinubu’.
The only reference to Saudi Arabia on its website is that it helped a mid- sized manufacturing company to expand into Saudi Arabian markets, resulting in a 40% increase in revenue within the first year’.
The value, volume, product and year of the export transaction were not indicated. This further raised pertinent questions about the authenticity of the $270million export by the company to Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, the NEPC promo stated that ‘the same President Bola Ahmed Tinubu instructed the Nigerian export promotion council to equip and train Nigerians on how to grow in Export.
This assertion is to say the least demeaning to the person and office of Mr President. It is highly doubtful if Mr. President ever issued such an instruction to the NEPC. If however Mr. President did issue such a directive, it would have been widely published in both the traditional and social media platforms or at least a statement would have been issued by the President’s spokesperson in that regard.
It is therefore intriguing what the NEPC management is trying to achieve with these spurious statements that can easily be fact- checked’ the stakeholders added.
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They also noted that assuming that Mr. President did issue the instructions as claimed by the NEPC, then ‘it goes to show how inept and inefficient NEPC management is’.
‘Could they have waited for Mr. President to issue that statement before taking steps to train Nigerians on how to export?. The instructions by Mr. President should therefore be taken as a vote of no confidence in the Executive Secretary of NEPC, Mrs. Nonye Ayeni and her management team. This is because one of the main functions or responsibilities of the NEPC as contained in its establishment Act is to train or build capacity of Nigerian exporters in such areas as export procedure and documentation, transportation, financing, marketing techniques, quality control, export packaging, costing and pricing, publicity and other similar areas.
Why then would NEPC have to wait for Mr. President to issue an instruction before carrying out its basic statutory duties? Another sad aspect of that promo is NEPC’s tacit endorsement of export of agro products which is clearly at variance with government disposition on export of commodities
As the institution in charge of promoting non- oil export goods from Nigeria, the NEPC should have known the negative implications of encouraging export of agro products as against manufactured or value added products that is being encouraged by government.
It is high time public officers are held accountable for their actions and statements.
The days of impunity and lackluster attitude to public service should be over. The practice of feeding the public with fake news as a face-saving measure or to achieve a hidden agenda should be viewed seriously by the Government. Whatever purpose the promo wanted to achieve, it did more harm than good to both the NEPC and the government of the day. It is bad publicity for the government. Eedris Abdulkareem would have smiled with satisfaction if he had watched that promo’ they submitted-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
