Business
By Anthony Isibor
ABBA Bello, managing director of Nigerian Export-Import Bank, NEXIM, has described the bank’s 9% interest rate on loans, the value it has added to exporters; both Nigerian-owned and non-Nigerian-owned firms, and the facilitation of a maritime logistics company called Sealink as some of his greatest accomplishments in 6 years.
Bello told Realnews in an exclusive interview in Abuja that he was satisfied with the numerous successes achieved by the bank over the past six years.
According to him, the bank is now almost the lender to exporters in the country with the lowest interest rate, while Sealink will ensure easy trade among the 15 West African countries
“The total for all fees and everything is 9%, and also the foreign exchange it has generated. One of the few things is that while we do not discriminate to say we’re lending to Nigerians, we have empowered Nigerians. When I say that I mean, at some point in this country, the biggest non-oil exporters were either the Indians or the Lebanese. Yes, they’re operating in Nigeria, but what happens with Nigerian exporters? So, one of the things we ensured as our strategic intent is that as we’re empowering other companies, also empower companies that are owned by Nigerians.
“Today, I’ll tell you names like Starlink that we picked are in the top hundred and they’re the largest exporters of cocoa from Nigeria and it’s a company fully owned by a Nigerian. Today, they’ve bought off the biggest cocoa processing plant in Nigeria. They have now moved into value addition. Before you came in, I had just sent out approval for a loan to a company called Plantation Industry, also another fully-owned Nigerian company that is processing cocoa in Akure. So, we can take from what we have done, the value we have added to exporters, both Nigerian-owned and non-Nigerian-owned. We have helped in boosting the export numbers out of Nigeria. Then there is also our responsibility of export trade facilitation. It’s not particularly lending, but an initiative that will help in making trade out of Nigeria more efficient.
“Our project in NEXIM is the facilitation of a maritime logistics company that we have been promoting. It’s called Sealink. Of the 15 West African countries, only three of them are not coastal countries, but there is no shipping between us. That’s one of the reasons why there is no real trade between West African countries. If you have anything to supply to Ghana now, it has to trans-ship to Europe. Sealink was conceptualized to be a coastal maritime operation. But as we were doing it, we saw the need to even make it bigger than that because of our inability to move bulk cargo and also solid minerals which you know are very heavy. We have also started charting and survey of the rivers. We have in-land ports, but we’re not using them.
“There’s an inland port in Onitsha and so on, but nobody is using them because the river is not charted. But we have now completed that and the World Maritime Authority has already endorsed the charting because no vessel will enter if it’s not charted. So, while that is not something that you can see and we can give you a number that is one of our achievements.
“So, Sealink is a partnership between the public sector and the private sector because the private sector will be the one to provide the vessels. As of now, it is just badges that can navigate the river, but they can transit on the high sea. Just before the former government handed over, that was when the charts were unveiled. It was unveiled by the federal government and was an initiative of NEXIM and with the partnership and collaboration of others, because the Nigerian Navy alone can’t chart and I must give it to them, their corporation was wonderful.
Bello also noted that although the charts are ready, it is going to be normal vessels that will navigate the route.
“Later, we need to have road transportation, rail transportation, and maritime transportation because trade without logistics can’t happen. As I said earlier only three West African countries are not coastal. That is Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, all others are coastal countries. Sealink is going to connect those ports. So, if we have cocoa, let’s say the Starlink cocoa plant needs cocoa from Ghana, it has to be a vessel that will bring it. You can’t transport it by road. If you transport it by road, by the time it gets here, it won’t be profitable anymore. So, it’s just to connect those ports that Sealink by conception started. But we have extended it into inland waters now because, from Kogi, you can evacuate iron ore, which is heavy. From the same Kogi or Anambra using Onitsha port, we have coal. Nigeria’s coal is one of the cleanest in the world.
“The only reason why it’s not exported is because of logistics, coal is very heavy, but in Kogi, they’re doing it because, Dangote’s cement plant uses coal, a customer of ours supplies coal to them. Ghana because of all their power plants use coal, but we can’t transport it there because there is no logistics. So Sealink is something that will be very useful,” he added
He described the Covid-19 pandemic era and its aftermath as some of his greatest challenging periods.
A.
– July 24, 2023 @ 13:50 GMT |
Tags: Anthony Isibor Nexim Nigerian Export-Import Bank
