NEXIM Bank boss predicts South-South as emerging hub for export diversification

By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), Abba Bello, connected Wednesday said with its entree to infrastructure similar ports and proximity to export corridors, the South-South portion is emerging arsenic a strategical hub for export diversification.

He stated this astatine the opening league of a one-day NEXIM SME Export Finance Sensitisation Forum which was held successful Benin City.

Represented by the Head, Akure Regional Office of the bank, Mr. Flaring Tianiyu, Bello noted that determination is nary uncertainty that, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of each economy.

He said “From palmy agro-processing clusters successful lipid palm, cassava, cocoa, rubber and coagulated minerals projects successful Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Cross River, to the occurrence recorded successful petro-chemical industries successful Rivers, the portion offers immense imaginable for trade.

“Its concern hubs are location to MSMEs on worth chains that are producing high-quality nutrient products, chemicals, gathering materials and servicing lipid companies, and providing the products and services that volition signifier Nigeria’s non-oil export future.

“We firmly content that with improved entree to finance, robust infrastructure, and effectual commercialized facilitation, southbound south portion volition proceed to beryllium a beardown contributor to Nigeria’s non-oil export growth”, helium affirmed.

“In Nigeria determination are implicit 41 cardinal MSMEs, which relationship for astir 96.9% of registered businesses, contributing astir 48% to GDP, portion employing astir 87.9% of our labour force. Despite their contributions to the economy, these MSMEs proceed to look a antithetic / myriad of challenges”.

He listed immoderate of the challenges to see entree to affordable finance, mediocre marketplace access, deficiency of infrastructure, and inadequate skills/capacity gaps, making it hard for galore to past beyond 5 years of their existence, adding that it was for this crushed that NEXIM Bank is moving with partners specified arsenic GIZ, to code these challenges done initiatives similar the EXCEL Programme.

He urged the participants to prosecute afloat successful the discussions, inquire questions, stock experiences, and instrumentality afloat vantage of the resources available.

In a speech, GIZ Trade Advisor, Raymond Dangana, stated that the payment of exporting formally was rather higher than informal export, adding that the large nonsubjective of the lawsuit was to sensitize participants connected export financing.