Nigeria’s government has said it would continue to support the private sector as it works towards making the country an economic powerhouse globally.
Speaking in Abuja at the Inaguration of the board of the Nigeria Export Import Bank in Abuja, Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME), Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala noted that with Nigeria controlling more than half of the trade in the sub region, empowering the private sector would fasttrack Nigeria’s aim of becoming one of the leading economies worldwide.
“There are lots of expectations for the bank. This government of President Goodluck Jonathan has embarked on a part of transforming the economy and trying to work with the private sector to expand trade particularly regional trade.”
She urged NEXIM to continue to focus on enabling the local entrepreneurs to grow, the Minister charged the new board to carry out their role with enthusiasm in order to align with government’s overall objectives of transforming the economy.
“And that our private sector where we have so many talented men and women, so many entrepreneurs can be enabled by the activities of this bank to show what Nigerians can indeed do.”
For his part, Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Yerima Ngama disclosed that in less than three years, NEXIM bank has gone from a loss recording organization to a profit making one.
“Before the new management came, we were recording loss but since the new management came, we started posting profit. We posted profit to the extent that we declared dividends and the dividends were declared for the second time in the history of the bank.”
Mr. Ngama pointed out that a special task force was setup to recovered bad loans but it could not achieve much, insisting that “now that the bank is clean loan book, we want to maintain that standard.”
“This is the point where we have to make a decision to never again allow the credit quality to deteriorate.
For the bank to enjoy international trust and raise funds, the Minister stressed the need for it to subject itself to be rated.
“We won’t mind to subject the bank to rating because this is what will help the bank go out and raise funds. It is high for us to subject the balance sheet, the bank, the process to rating.”
He also disclosed that in a bit to bring the NEXIM bank closer to Nigerians businessmen and enable them easy access to the bank’s facility, the government has approved the establishment of agencies that would work closely with the bank’s branches.
And they would be established in Yenagoa, Akure, Isheagu, Damaturu, Yola, Gusua and Makurdi.
The board which would be chaired by Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, CBN, Mrs. Sarah Alade, also has Mrs. Folake Oke Salami, Mr. Musa Batari, Mr. kalli Zaji, Mr. David Adejuwon, Mr. Mohammed Babangida, mr. Peter Nwaoboshi, Mr. Robert Orya and Mr. Bashir Wali.
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