The stakeholders, who spoke in Lagos at the 7th Annual
Edition of the Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar themed: “Unlocking
Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business”, also stressed the need for
the support of Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Sector
The event was virtually held at the Civic Centre, Victoria
Island, Lagos.
In his goodwill message presentation, the Founder/Chairman
of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Jim Ovia, highlights the importance of non-oil export to
the nation’s economy.
Ovia pointed out that Nigeria exported cocoa and several
other non-oil products for years before oil was discovered.
He cited the example of the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan,
which was built with proceeds from cocoa exports, pointing out that many
countries in the world, such as Japan and China been successful because they
are doing a great deal of innovation, production and manufacturing of goods and
services.
According to him, “we should also look at promoting the
nation’s non-oil export sector through technology to create technological
giants like Apple, Tesla, and Google. And we already have technology companies
in this mould in Nigeria, such as Flutterwave, which has a valuation of $3
billion, making it more valuable than some banks in Nigeria.
Speaking further on the enormous potential in Nigeria’s
non-oil sector, Ovia highlighted the phenomenal growth of Nigeria’s emerging
financial technology (Fintech) companies such as Flutherwave, OPay,
Interswitch, Kuda and Paystack, with market valuations of $3 billion, $2
billion, $1 billion, $500 million, $200 million, respectively.
According to him, this underscores the enormous opportunity
in the Fintech space. He also noted that the most capitalized companies in the
world, such as Apple, Microsoft,
Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Tesla, Visa, etc., are not oil companies but
are in the technological innovation space.
In his welcome address, the Group Managing Director/CEO of
Zenith Bank, Mr Ebenezer 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, 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
2014-2016 was a watershed moment.
He, “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.
Highlighting some of the salient outcomes of the past six
Zenith Bank Annual International Trade Seminar editions, Onyeagwu 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.
Also speaking, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor,
Mr Godwin Emefiele , commended Zenith Bank and its leadership led by the Founder
and Chairman of the Board, Jim Ovia, 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.
He said, “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. 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
said.
In his keynote address, the President & Chief Executive
of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said that “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.
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.
In his Goodwill Message, His Excellency, Wamkele Mene,
Secretary General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat,
enumerated the progress and achievements of the African Continental Free Trade
Area and the efforts to improve intra-Africa trade.
Also, in his Goodwill Message, Professor Benedict Oramah,
President / Chairman of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), highlighted
the efforts of Afreximbank to enhance intra-Africa trade through the
implementation of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS).
According to him, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement
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.