The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) has been around for 3 decades, providing short and medium term loans to Nigerian exporters. The bank, under the leadership of Abba Bello, its MD/CEO, has been promoting non-oil export development in Nigeria through capacity building and dissemination of pertinent trade and market information among stakeholders and the key players in the export value chain.
The bank also provides short term guarantees for loans granted by Nigerian Banks to exporters as well as credit insurance against political and commercial risks in the event of non-payment by foreign buyers. The Bank is also the government’s National Guarantor under the ECOWAS Inter-state Road Transit programme.
Its initiatives to promote at least one exportable commodity in every state of the federation towards achieving the federal government’s zero oil plan and the initiatives of the Mr. President to create 1 million jobs annually.
It was established by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency (ECA) with a share capital of N50, 000,000,000 (Fifty Billion Naira) held equally by the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
While it provides export credit guarantee and export credit insurance facilities to its clients, it also makes provision of credit in local currency to its clients in support of exports.
Its other functions include:
Establishment and management of funds connected with exports.
Maintenance of a foreign exchange revolving fund for lending to exporters who need to import foreign inputs to facilitate export production.
Provision of domestic credit insurance where such a facility is likely to assist exports.
Maintenance of a trade information system in support of export business.
In the meantime, NEXIM’s Women and Youth Export Facility (WAYEF) is designed to support Women and Youth in the non-oil exports value-chain.
The intention of the WAYEF is to stimulate and increase deliberate funding to Women and Youth (between the ages of 18 to 35 years) towards broadening Nigeria’s export basket and facilitating regional industrialization for value added exports.
NEXIM’s WAYEF, will stimulate and increase deliberate funding to indigenous Women and Youths, towards broadening Nigeria’s export basket and facilitating regional industrialization for value added exports.
It will also improve access of Women and Youths to concessionary finance in a bid to expand and diversify the non-oil export baskets, while support of Women and Youths towards upscaling and expanding export operational capacities is also one of its key objectives.
WAYEF will diversify and increase the contribution of non-oil export revenue and value-added exports for sustainable economic development.
NEXIM under the leadership of its MD/CEO NEXIM, Mr. Abba Bello identifies states as economic viable entities, with exportable products/services.
The MD/CEO, Abba Bello has expressed the willingness of NEXIM Bank to explore partnership opportunities with State Governments to drive the Bank’s economic diversification efforts and to promote/ develop exportable agricultural products in each State.
The bank identifies the South-south region as the economic capital of the country.
Beyond oil, the region also has huge agricultural and solid mineral resources as well as a thriving tourism sector, which could be harnessed towards contributing to the diversification objectives of the federal government of Nigeria and he therefore called for concerted efforts to harness these resources towards creating a well-diversified economy that is resilient in the wake of global economic shocks.
To this end, some years back Abba Bello introduced the State Export Development Programme, an initiative of the Bank, which avails each state at least the sum of N1bn towards promoting regional industrialization and economic diversification and pledged the Bank’s commitment to work with stakeholders to boost the economic growth of the South-South region and develop the necessary partnerships to enhance access of entrepreneurs and exporters to the fund.
The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) signed a memorandum of understanding with Taraba and Yobe State Governments, many years back, as part of the Bank’s effort to achieve the zero-oil plan of the federal government by boosting investments in the non-oil export sector through partnership arrangement with state governments under the State Export Development Programme.
A partnership with Taraba and Yobe States not only supported this initiative, but also contributed towards mitigating some of the security challenges in the North East and prepare the region towards effective participation in the continental market under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
At the core of NEXIM’s mandate is the promotion of non-oil export development in Nigeria and drive regional trade given the enormous opportunities enshrined in the recent proposed commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which provides trading opportunities for our SMEs and positioning Nigeria to attract investments, particularly within the context of the regional and global value chains, the forum is aimed at creating the necessary awareness to highlight the economic potentials of individual states within Nigeria towards attracting investments, particularly into the non-oil export sectors.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
