By DADA AYOKHAI
After many years of inactivity owing to interminable internal squabbles, the Edo State Export Cluster is finally back on a sound footing with the inauguration of newly elected principal officers of the body.
According to the Assistant Director for Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC Edo state chapter, Mr. Andrew Okhiulu who also the chief host of the event, the feat of brokering peace and restoring normalcy among the bickering lot was made possible by the immediate past Edo State Commissioner of Business, Trade, and Cooperatives, Hon. Afie Braimoh.
The Edo State Export Cluster is an arm of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council which deals with non-oil exports .
The inauguration of the reconstituted Edo State Export Cluster took place the NEPC office in Benin, amidst pomp and pageantry and in the presence of the top officials of the Nigerian Exports Promotions Council, NEPC and other stakeholders.
According to okhiulu , On resumption of office, Hon. Afie Braimoh met a dissolved Edo State Export Cluster where the former Council members were in constant squabbles with each other and at loggerheads with its parent body, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC.
In appreciation of the noble role she played in giving the Council a breadth of fresh air, Hon. Braimoh was given the honour of administer oat of office to the reconstituted Council and was also made a member of the Council’s Board of Trustees and similarly offered a life membership of the body.
During the 14 months period she served as a commissioner, Hon. Braimoh according to the body was able to take the Edo brand from relative obscurity to the global level. She did not only aggressively pursue the “Made in Edo” policy but also evolved vibrant and pragmatic policies to stimulate the local MSMEs.
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According to the citation on Hon Braimoh read by Mrs. Amina , she described Hon. Braimoh as a “true leader”, recalling that the first day the body met her at a public event and where she was showed some of our products, the commissioner requested to take all of them as samples to Miami and 48 hours later we received a video of the products on the shelf of an African store in Miami, USA.
She added that Edo State MSMEs are enjoying global attention and patronage in faraway places because of the beautiful job done by the former commissioner.
In her words, Mrs. Amina said, “Edo local MSME owners are proud to say our products are sold in Miami and other corners of the globe. In the history of the ministry, no commissioner can claim to have done as much to showcase Edo products to the global market. To her credit, she raised global awareness about Edo products and facilitated trade exhibitions, trade missions, and fairs to expose the local MSME owners to modern trends, including the NACCIMA Fair in Lagos where a twelve-year-old young entrepreneur became the star of the show. The quality of the work she put in in the past 14 months is unraveled.
“Of greater significance is the exposure and the training given the local MSMEs in alliance with the foreign development partners such as the German GIZ and the registration of the Proudly Edo trademark which she facilitated to enable Edo products to penetrate the global market”.
The highlights of the event was the presentation of a with a beautifully crafted plaque that had the head of Queen Idia etched on it, as a sign of gratitude and as permitted by Edo custom to the former commissioner.
The stakeholders in unison prayed for the reappointment of Hon. Braimoh to enable her to complete the good works she has already initiated
