L-R Group MD/CEO, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu; CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; President & Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, Mr. Jim Ovia; former Chief Executive/Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo; and Managing Director/CEO, Bank of Industry, Mr. Olukayode Pitan at the 2022 Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar held at the Civic Centre Lagos, yesterday.
By Our Reporter
Stakeholder unanimously called for support of Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Sector at the 7th Annual Edition of the Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar themed “Unlocking Opportunities in Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Business”, which was held on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos and virtually.
In his Goodwill Message Presentation, the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr.
Jim Ovia, CON, called for a concerted effort towards diversifying Nigeria’s export base
through the promotion of non-oil exports. Highlighting the importance of non-oil export to the nation’s economy, Ovia pointed out that Nigeria exported cocoa and several other non-oil products for years before oil was discovered. He cited the example of the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan, which was built with proceeds from cocoa exports. He pointed out that
many countries in the world, such as Japan and China been successful because they are doing a great deal of innovation, production and manufacturing of goods and services.
According to him, we should also look at promoting the nation’s non-oil export sector through technology to create technological giants like Apple, Tesla, and Google. And we already have technology companies in this mould in Nigeria, such as Flutterwave, which has a valuation of $3 billion, making it more valuable than some banks in Nigeria. Speaking further on the enormous potential in Nigeria’s non-oil sector, Ovia highlighted the phenomenal growth of Nigeria’s emerging financial technology (Fintech) companies such as Flutherwave, OPay, Interswitch, Kuda and Paystack, with market valuations of $3 billion, $2billion, $1 billion, $500 million, $200 million, respectively. According to him, this underscores the enormous opportunity in the Fintech space. He also noted that the most capitalized companies in the world, such as Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Tesla, Visa, etc., are not oil companies but are in the technological innovation space.
In his welcome address, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said that the annual Zenith Bank Trade Seminar has served as a veritable platform to deepen the conversation on promoting non-oil export in Nigeria, 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. Speaking on the origin of the Zenith Bank Annual International Trade Seminar,
Onyeagwu said that the commodity price slump of 2014-2016 was a watershed moment.
According to him, “when crude oil prices plummeted from $114.55 per barrel in June 2014
to $28.76 in January 2016, with an attendant effect on the availability of foreign exchange, it was time to look towards the non-oil export sector for a more sustainable source of foreign exchange that is not susceptible to external shocks and price volatility.
Highlighting some of the salient outcomes
