NEXIM set to fund Nigerian Exporters with N30 billion
Monday, 06 Feb 2012
NEXIM Managing Director, Mr. Roberts Orya appearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions in Abuja also disclosed that the bank will soon float a shipping line to provide platforms for Nigerian exporters to do their businesses.
Mr. Orya stated that the bank is set to create over 23, 000 jobs in 2012, adding that the successful conduct of election in 2011 has made Nigeria an ideal investment destination, even in the face of the current security challenges.
According to him: "With the successful conduct of the 2011 elections, many countries have come to us seeking different business opportunities in the country, we at NEXIM have been engaging them and I want to say that the responses we are getting are quite encouraging."
On floating a shipping line, he said the non-availability of indigenous ocean-going vessels is denying Nigerian businessmen and the Federal Government huge resources, adding that it takes over 60 days for shipment to be done between Nigeria and Ghana.
"NEXIM is ready to facilitate establishment of shipping companies to explore the opportunities that are begging for attention on the African waterways. For now, goods going from Nigeria to Ghana for instance, take up to 60 days because it has to go to Europe first before coming back to Ghana, but with the floating of a shipping line, our exporters can cash in on this and do proper business within the sub-region," he stated.
On the focus of NEXIM in year 2012, Orya stated that attention will be paid to manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and services. The chairman of the committee, Senator Ademola Adeseun, pointed out that Nigeria is in dire need of investment to reduce its huge unemployment burden.
He said, "We are in a dire need of investments, especially the cassava project that Nigeria and China are putting together. Promotion of such investments by your bank will go a long way in helping our country so that the potentials that we have in large quantity that are wasting could be channeled to productive use for the benefit of our people".
