By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) — The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) has called on export-oriented Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in the Southeast states and Delta state to access the N500 billion Export Stimulation Facility (ESF), and the N50 billion Export Development Fund being managed by the bank to boost their businesses, create more jobs, and contribute to the foreign exchange revenue earnings of the country.
Managing director and chief executive of NEXIM, Mr. Abba Bello, speaking at a one-day seminar on ‘leveraging NEXIM Bank Facilities to Unleash Your Export Potential’ said improved export financing for non-oil exporters will enable them to upscale and expand their businesses and improve their competiveness.
The facilities were made available to NEXIM Bank last December and will lend at a maximum of nine per cent interest rate. They funds were designed to redress the declining export credit to SMEs and reposition the non-oil sector to increase its contribution to the country’s revenue generation and economic development.
Represented by the head of the bank’s Enugu regional office, Mr. Chinedu Moghalu stated that the funds are being made available to the NEXIM by the Central Bank of Nigeria at a time the Bank has decentralized its operations to all the regions of the country for easier accessibility of its products and services to maximize their impacts. According to him, “NEXIM Bank is determined to ensure these funds achieve the desired impact of triggering non-oil export development, growth and economic progress in line with its mandate as the Trade Policy Bank of the Federal Government and the applicable CBN guidelines for the implementation of the facilities.”
The representative of the Enugu State governor and special assistant on SME Development, Honourable Anayo Agu, stated that the programme has come at the right time.
According to him, “the opening of NEXIM Bank Regional Office for the Southeast and Delta state in Enugu, and the invitation to the SMEs to access affordable non-oil export facilities, had been the missing link in the efforts of various governments in the region to derive maximum benefits from their investments in the SME value chain, especially in the agriculture and other non-oil sectors. It provides us the platform to reach heights we could only dream about before now.”
The Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele had stated at the announcing of the funds in December 2017 that the ESF can also be implemented by adapting the Anchor Borrowers Programme framework while promoting the PAVE initiative.
According to Moghalu, “the overall aim of the ESF and EDF is to lower the costs of Nigerian exporters so that their products can be priced at a level where they can compete with other products around the world.”
The NEXIM bank regional head urged eligible export-oriented companies in the Southeast and Delta States with permissible transactions under the schemes to participate in the funding scheme by submitting proposals for consideration through the financial institutions of their choice or directly to NEXIM Bank. He emphasised that as Nigeria’s sole export credit agency, NEXIM Bank remains the only window through which the Government can provide export financing for non-oil products and services.