The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee on Thursday set up a N200 billion intervention fund for export business at a single-digit interest rate.
The 10-year tenure loan is targeted at boosting palm oil, cocoa, sesame seeds, shea and cashew exports, as well as the creative industry.
The intervention fund is expected to help generate employment, boost economic activities and bring relief to foreign exchange issues.
Kennedy Uzoka, group managing director/CEO of UBA, while briefing the media after the Bankers Committee meeting in Lagos, said the findings of sub-committee set up by the Bankers Committee after its annual retreat in December 2018 was that the industry has a lot of policies but the challenge has been on execution.
The committee therefore broke down the challenges into seven broader areas, part of which include finance, logistics and policies, he said.
“In terms of the policies that drive export, we believe that a lot of them need to be changed and we know about the congestion at the port, so we looked at all these things and grouped them into immediate, mid-term and long-term because some we cannot address within a very short period,” Uzoka said.
Herbert Wigwe, group managing director/CEO, Access Bank plc, spoke on the creative services and IT sectors, saying a lot more work has been done and that there are four verticals of the sector, including movies, music, ICT and fashion.
“What we have decided to do it to take it to the next level which is basically to revisit the entire value chain of each of these verticals, right from the production facilities – all the way to the last mile in terms of capacity building, making sure that whatever is produced along each of the verticals is such that is of world-class standard,” Wigwe said.
He said the Bankers Committee has got the final nod to take the initiative to the next level.
“By next week there will be some advertorials out in the market for eligible people who want to participate in each of the verticals,” he added.
Wigwe said it is a big initiative which will do a couple of things to the country. As a starting point, he said it will lead to about 300,000 jobs in five years, as well as lead to a significant accumulation of foreign exchange and significant savings.
Ahmed Abdullahi, director, banking supervision, CBN, said the economy had recorded positive development in spite of the headwinds before the 2019 election period.
He said lending to the private sector and the economy generally had increased, adding that $6 billion came into the country from foreign investors after the 2019 general elections.
Abdullahi said the committee decided to consolidate on the gains and continue with those initiatives that brought about the growth.
He identified such initiatives as import substitution programme, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, among others.
Others who addressed the media include Segun Agbaje, managing director/CEO, GTBank plc, Patrick Akinwuntan, managing director/regional executive, Ecobank Nigeria, and Isaac Okorafor, director, corporate communication, CBN.
Hope Moses-Ashike
