ACCOMPLISH MAGAZINE AUGUST 2023

CORPORATE
SUITE
Zenith Bank Plc has
signed a Memorandum
of Understanding
(MoU) with the African
Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat
for the development of the
SMARTAfCFTA Portal, for trade
promotion within the African
continent. The SMARTAfCFTA
Portal, which has the capacity
to provide information like
trade indicators, market
trends, custom tariffs, trade
agreements, rules of origin,
market access requirements
of relevant jurisdictions, export
potentials, export diversification
indicators and contact details
of business partners in target
markets and other traderelated
information about
Africa, will help to unlock the
vast opportunities for trade on
the African continent.
The MoU was signed by the
Group Managing Director/
CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Dr.
Ebenezer Onyeagwu and the
Secretary-General of the AfCFTA
Secretariat, His Excellency
Wamkele Mene, during the 8th
Annual Edition of the Zenith
Bank International Trade
Seminar on Non-Oil Export
themed “Nigerian Non-Oil
Export Industry: The Present, The
Future”, held on Wednesday,
August 8, 2023, at the Civic
Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos
and virtually.
Speaking on the
partnership with AfCFTA
for the development of the
SMARTAfCFTA Portal, the
Group Managing Director/
CEO of Zenith Bank, Dr.
Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said: “This
collaboration aims to unlock the
vast opportunities presented
by AfCFTA not only for Nigeria’s
economic prosperity but also
for advancing trade across
African countries”.
Dr. Onyeagwu noted the
key role that the annual Zenith
Bank Trade Seminar plays in
deepening the conversation
on promoting non-oil export in
Nigeria by bringing together
non-oil export practitioners
and relevant government
agencies to interact and
explore the opportunities
and proffer solutions to the
challenges of non-oil export
in the country, noting that
previous editions’ outcomes
have found expression and
influenced policy initiatives.
For instance, the extension
of the period of repatriation
of Non-Oil Export proceeds
from 90 days to 180 days,
and the policy mandating
shippers not to carry export
without a Nigeria Export
Proceeds (NXP) Form Number
were recommendations
from previous seminars.
Also, the need to incentivise
exporters to repatriate their
export proceeds through
the official channels and the
recommendation to create
export terminals across various
export hubs in the country
were also from past seminars.
Also, previous editions
recommended having Export
Desks in commercial banks,
which has now been instituted.
In his keynote address at the
Zenith Bank International Trade
Seminar, the Secretary-General
of the AfCFTA Secretariat, His
Excellency Wamkele Mene,
thanked the Founder and
Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim
Ovia, CFR, for partnering with
the AfCFTA for the development
of the SMARTAfCFTA Portal.
In his words: “Zenith Bank
was the first bank to say “we
want to partner with you”. We
went to see the Founder and
Chairman, and he said that
Zenith Bank wants to make a
contribution to digitise trade
in Africa. And so the portal
was not my idea, it was not our
idea at the AfCTA Secretariat,
it was Zenith Bank that
stepped up and said, ‘this has
to be done!’. So I want to thank
you very much, GMD for this
collaboration.”
In his goodwill message, Dr.
Kingsley Obiora, the Deputy
Governor of Economic Policy
representing the Acting
Governor of the Central Bank
of Nigeria, Mr. Folashodun
Adebisi Shonubi, commended
Zenith Bank for leading
Nigeria’s non-oil export
promotion advocacy. He
bemoaned the 1.2 per cent
non-oil export to total GDP
ratio and emphasised the
need for concerted efforts
to boost non-oil exports in
Nigeria.
Zenith Bank launched the
Non-Oil Export Seminar in 2016
as an initiative to deepen
the discourse on promoting
the non-oil export business in
Nigeria. The 2023 International
Trade Seminar also featured
a goodwill message from
the Secretary of the National
Action Committee on AfCFTA,
Mr. Olusegun Awolowo.
There were also two-panel
discussions, with the first panel
discussion titled: “Nigeria
Non-Oil Export Industry –
Growth Opportunities”, while
the second panel discussion
was titled: “Harnessing the
Opportunities in Service
Export”.
Accomplish Magazine 65