Welcome Address by Mr. Abubakar Abba Bello, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigerian Export-Import Bank at the Workshop on Export for SMEs in Kaduna organized by the Nigerian Export-Import Bank on 5th June, 2021.

Protocols.

On behalf of the Board, the entire management and staff of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, I welcome you all to this event, which has been organized by NEXIM Bank on the sidelines of the Kaduna International Trade Fair.

Permit me to specially welcome and thank my Minister, the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed for the continuous support, and for honoring our invitation to this occasion. In the same vein, I must also thank our Chief Host, the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, for providing a conducive environment for us to organize this event. Mr. Governor sir, it is worthy of note that the economy of the state has been transformed significantly under your able leadership, particularly in the areas of infrastructure development and public service reforms. This, no doubt, will provide the needed catalyst for increased private sector investment towards sustainable growth and development of the state.

Let me also thank our partners, the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture as well as the Kaduna Business School, who have worked with us tirelessly to make this gathering possible.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this workshop has been organized as part of our mandate as Nigeria’s export development Bank to create awareness and stimulate investment in the non-oil export sector in line with the economic diversification objectives of the federal government of Nigeria. It is rather a paradox that in spite of a well-diversified production base, Nigeria continues to manifest the features of a mono-product economy, with crude oil, which currently accounts for less than 10% of our Gross Domestics Product, providing about 70% of government revenues and close to 90% of our export earnings. Our economic fortune, therefore, continues to be tied to the vagaries of the international oil market as is currently being witnessed following the outbreak of the Covid 19 Pandemic.

It is common knowledge that at about this time last year, oil prices went below $20pb at the height of the health crisis and the ensuing economic lockdown plunged the global economy into recession, and of course, Nigeria, being an oil dependent economy was not spared. Although Nigeria is now technically out of recession, following massive stimulus responses by the fiscal and monetary authorities, I wish to emphasise that such undue exposure to oil market shocks can be avoided by effectively harnessing our non-oil potentials and boosting the volume and value of our non-oil exports.

This, of course, will require concerted efforts and partnership between the public and private sectors and it is in this regard that we have organized this enlightenment and engagement session to intimate investors in the region with some of the incentives offered by NEXIM and other agencies of government.
Distinguished participants, I am pleased to note that NEXIM has retooled its operations over the past four years and is now better positioned to serve you. The Bank, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria is implementing the N500bn Non-Oil Export Stimulation Facility and the N100bn Export Development Fund which we offer at single digit interest rate to support the production and export of goods and services. In addition to these, we have recently launched the Women and Youth Export Facility (WAYEF), which comes with special features to assist women and youth in the export value chain to become entrepreneurs and expand their businesses. WAYEF is also part of NEXIM’s affirmative action and has been designed in furtherance of the social and economic inclusion programme of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Having also recognized the role of our SMEs in cross border trade, and the need to mainstream informal export activities, particularly within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we have also established an SME desk to respond specifically to the needs of our small businesses. My colleagues will tell you more about our various facilities during the plenary session.

Under our trade facilitation role, particularly towards enhancing the competitiveness of Nigerian exporters in the regional market, we have continued to promote the Regional Sealink Project to bridge the maritime infrastructure gap, thereby improving trade connectivity for coastal and hinterland trade. The project is expected to boost access for Nigerian manufactured exports within the regional market, and solid minerals export globally. We are also developing Factoring Services as an alternative financial instrument to support SMEs. In this regard, we have continued to engage with the National Assembly for consideration of the Draft Factoring Bill along with the CBN FSS2020, Afreximbank and the Factor Chain International (FCI), while advocacy is ongoing for issuance of factoring regulation.

As I close ladies and gentlemen, let me seize this opportunity to inform this gathering that NEXIM is partnering with Afreximbank to establish a Project Preparation Fund (PPF), through which both institutions have agreed to raise an initial amount of $50million dollars to support the pre-investment phase in a project preparation circle. It is expected that this fund will address the dearth of bankable projects and increase the flow of funds to SMEs.
Finally, I wish to welcome and thank other government agencies, that have been invited to address other pertinent issues-NEPC, SMEDAN, NAFDAC, SON as well as our dear customers and other stakeholders that have been asked to share their experiences with us.
I thank you all for your kind attention and wish you all fruitful deliberations.

Abba Bello
Managing Director/Chief Executive, NEXIM Bank
5th June, 2021

Welcome to NL Nexim Bank. We await presidency and Nig Gov.