Trade facilitation: NEPC, NEXIM to fast-track Sealink Project

THE quest to make Nigerian goods competitive in the international market received a fresh boost on Friday as the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Nigerian Import-Export Bank (NEXIM) agreed to fast-track the establishment of a regional maritime company, the Sealink Project, even as both agencies mulled the establishment of an airlink terminal at the nation’s international airports to stem the incessant reject of export of perishable food items.

Executive Director/CEO of NEPC, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, who stated this in Abuja, while receiving in his office the new Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, Mr Abba Bello, said  the collaboration between the Council and NEXIM would help facilitate trade and complement the effort of NEPC in making Nigerian goods competitive in the international market.

Towards this end, Awolowo advocated the collaboration of both agencies and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in securing a platform for trade and investment along the ECOWAS trade corridor through NEXPORTRADE and a proposed offshore warehouse in Togo, noting that it would ease the challenges encountered by exporters in terms of cost of transportation of goods, warehousing, lack of constant supply among other logistics.

In his remarks, Bello reinstated the need to urgently kick-start the Sealink Project, saying it would promote intra and inter-African trade, thereby fostering regional integration, economic growth and development in the West and Central African sub-regions.

He disclosed that the purpose of the visit was to discuss and map out area of mutual interest in the quest to facilitate trade and enhance the competitiveness of Nigeria goods in the international market, adding that NEXIM was ready to collaborate with NEPC in organising a stakeholders’ forum of top 100 companies in Nigeria to address their challenges and explore the possibilities of increasing production for export.

He commended the Council for the Zero Oil Plan (ZOP), adding that it was the only way the country could maximize her potentials as well as guarantee job creation, increase exports of manufactured goods and earn foreign exchange for the country.