Seminar themed “Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export
Business”, which was held on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Civic
Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos and virtually.
In his Goodwill Message Presentation, the Founder and Chairman of Zenith
Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, CON, called for a concerted effort towards
diversifying Nigeria’s export base through the promotion of non-oil
exports. Highlighting 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. He pointed 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. 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.
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.
Delivering his goodwill message, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor,
Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CON, 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.
In his words: “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
potentials, 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.
In his keynote address, the President & Chief Executive of Dangote
Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, GCON, 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.
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.