ABSTRACT

Agricultural products like Cocoa, Palm Kernel/ Oil, Groundnut, Cotton, Timber amongst others, formed the bedrock of the Nigerian economy in the pre-independence period. Hence, non-oil exports sustained the Nigerian economy and served as the source of the country's foreign exchange earnings from around 1 900 up to 1 9 6 5 . However, the discovery o f crude oil i n commercial quantity resulted to a decline in the agricultural sector. Revenue generated from the non - oil export began to decline as oil boomed in the 1 970s. As it dawned on the Federal Government of Nigeria that oil revenue was no longer a sustainable means of income to meet its financial obligations, the Government began to seek for ways of diversifying the economy. The search for other means of a sustainable income led to the establishment of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) by virtue of Decree N o . 26 of 1 97 6 . The idea was for NEPC to spearhead the promotion of non-oil