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Thursday, August
27, 2020 / 09:48 AM / by Zenith Bank / Header Image
Credit: Zenith Bank
The Group Managing
Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu has called for a
concerted effort towards diversifying the country's export base through the
promotion of non-oil exports. He made the call during a Webinar themed "Prospects
of Non-Oil Export During and Post COVID-19" organized by the bank on Wednesday,
August 26, 2020.
According to him, the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted the demand for oil and, by
extension, the price of crude oil in the international commodities market has
further exposed Nigeria's over-dependency on crude oil earnings and its
susceptibility to oil-related shocks. He added that the events of the last
couple of months have also highlighted the limited range of the country's
value-added products exported to foreign markets.
He noted further that
boosting non-oil export is imperative in view of the opportunities that exist
in the broader contexts of ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the African
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which seeks to create a continent-wide
market of 1.2 billion people with combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.5
trillion and about $4 trillion in consumer and business spending.
Whilst commending the
efforts of the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to deepen the
non-oil export business in the country, Onyeagwu urged players in the non-oil
export value-chain including exporters and financial institutions to play their
part in the drive towards expanding the nation's non-oil export base.
Delivering the keynote
address, the Director of Trade & Exchange, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Dr. (Mrs) Ozoemena Nnaji, who commended Zenith Bank for organizing the webinar
at a time like this, observed that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up
call for the country, as it has once again exposed the over-dependence of the
Nigerian economy on one product. She therefore called for a deeper policy look
at the non-oil sector to find ways of genuinely improving the quality and
quantity of our non-oil export goods.
Also speaking at the
Webinar, the Chief Executive/Executive Director of the Nigerian Export
Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo commended the efforts of Zenith
bank in promoting non-oil export business in Nigeria, describing the bank as 'the Export Trade Bank of Nigeria'. Speaking on the topic "Repositioning
Non-oil export as a Leading Revenue Earner: Government Plans and Programmes",
Awolowo noted that the crash in oil prices following the COVID-19 pandemic and
OPEC's price war with Russia reinforced what everyone already knows – the
mono-product economy of the country is not sustainable, calling for a buy-in
into the Zero oil policy of NEPC.
Zenith Bank remains
committed to the promotion of the non-oil export sector in Nigeria by
identifying emerging opportunities which help in stimulating non-oil exports
and developing 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 non-oil export business in Nigeria.
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