Bankers, industrialists, trade experts and other stakeholders have identified support for non-oil export sector as critical in reviving Nigeria’s economy.
Speaking yesterday at seventh Annual Edition of the Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar , the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Founder & Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, President & Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu unanimously called for more support for the non-oil sector to speedup Nigeria’s economic nenewal.
Others speakers at the event held in Lagos and virtually, with theme: “Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business” include Secretary General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene and President /Chairman of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah.
Ovia advocated diversifying Nigeria’s export base through the promotion of non-oil exports and highlighted the importance of non-oil export to the nation’s economy.
He disclosed that Nigeria exported cocoa and several other non-oil products for years before oil was discovered.
According to Ovia, there was need to promote Nigeria’s non-oil export sector through technology to create technological giants like Apple, Tesla, and Google. He listed Flutherwave, OPay, Interswitch, Kuda and Paystack, with market valuations of $3 billion, $2 billion, $1 billion, $500 million, $200 million respectively as success stories in the Fintech industry.
Ovia noted that the most capitalised companies in the world, such as Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Tesla, Visa, among others, are not oil companies but are in the technological innovation space.
On his part, Onyeagwu, said that the annual Zenith Bank Trade Seminar has served as a veritable platform to deepen the conversation on promoting non-oil export in Nigeria.
The event, he said has been bringing together non-oil export practitioners and relevant government agencies to interact and explore the opportunities and proffer solutions to the challenges of non-oil export in the country.
Speaking on the origin of the Zenith Bank Annual International Trade Seminar, Onyeagwu said that the commodity price slump of 2014 to 2016 was a watershed moment.
According to him, “when crude oil prices plummeted from $114.55 per barrel in June 2014 to $28.76 in January 2016, with an attendant effect on the availability of foreign exchange, it was time to look towards the non-oil export sector for a more sustainable source of foreign exchange that is not susceptible to external shocks and price volatility.
Also speaking, Emefiele commended Zenith Bank and its leadership for its laudable initiative in organizing an annual export seminar to explore opportunities in Nigeria’s non-oil export with a view to increasing the nation’s non-oil export base and ultimately increasing its share as a percentage of total export.
“This is why the theme of this year’s seminar “Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business” is timely and appropriate. This is because the global economy and structure are changing rapidly before our eyes. The previous world economic order underpinned by globalization and seamless trade possibilities seems to be suffering major disruptions lately,” he said.
“We believe Nigeria has a lot of potential, and we can harness this for the good of our people and country.” He pointed out that the CBN has undertaken several initiatives to promote the non-oil export sector because of its firm belief that the non-oil export sector holds enormous potential to contribute to employment generation, wealth creation and economic growth of the country,” he added.
For Dangote, Nigeria’s non-oil export is quite low compared to other African top oil producers.
“This exposes the economy to oil price/production risks. There is much room for growth, and the CBN is helping drive this through the RT200 programme,” he said.
According to him, the CBN RT200 FX programme, which aims to achieve $200 billion in foreign exchange earnings from non-oil proceeds over the next 3-5 years, has very laudable objectives, including enhancing foreign exchange inflow, diversifying the source of FX inflow, increasing the level of contribution from non-oil export, and ensuring stability and sustainability of FX flows.
Mene enumerated the progress and achievements of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the efforts to improve intra-Africa trade.
Oramah highlighted the efforts of Afreximbank to enhance intra-Africa trade through the implementation of the Pan-AfricanPayment and Settlement System (PAPSS). According to him, the Pan-African Payment andSettlement System will make it easy and seamless for Africans to trade amongst themselves and receive payment for goods and services in their local currencies, eliminating currency conversion challenges.
Furthermore, Onyeagwu highlighted some of the outcomes of the past six Zenith Bank Annual International Trade Seminar editions.
He noted that previous editions’ outcomes have found expression and influenced policy initiatives.
For instance, the extension of the period of repatriation of Non-Oil Export proceeds from 90 days to 180 days and the policy mandating shippers not to carry export without a Nigeria Export Proceeds (NXP) Form Number were recommendations from previous seminars.
Also, the need to incentivize exporters to repatriate their export proceeds through the official channels and the recommendation to create export terminals across various export hubs in the country were also from past seminars. Also, previous editions recommended having Export Desks in commercial banks, which has now been instituted.
He also stated that Zenith Bank has trained over 100 exporters through its Zero to Hero programmes which provide a platform for grooming and exposing beginners to become strong exporters by providing training on documentation, product sourcing, access to market and financing. He noted that Zenith Bank will continue the advocacy of promoting non-oil export.
“Zenith Bank remains committed to promoting the non-oil export sector in Nigeria by identifying emerging opportunities which help stimulate non-oil exports and develop robust financial products and incentives for operators in the sector. The bank launched the Non-Oil Export Seminar in 2017 as an initiative to deepen the discourse on promoting the non-oil export business in Nigeria,” he stated.
