Fidelity Bank backs export promotion drive

Fidelity Bank Plc has partnered the Lagos Business School and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to boost human capital development for export promotion.

The programme, tagged Export Management Programme, is aimed at training Nigerian exporters in order to accelerate the nation’s export.

At a joint news conference involving the partners in Lagos recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, stressed the need to diversify the Nigerian economy and boost non-oil export.

This, he said, would help to save the naira from the increasing value erosion.

He said, “We are here on how we can drive export business in the country. We want to achieve this through collaboration with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council and the Lagos Business School under the platform of the Export Management Programme.

“Foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria are largely from oil exports; it accounts for over 90 per cent of total receipts. The current currency debacle hinges on supply side dynamics having lost over 70 per cent of our dollar revenues in the last 18 months due to the falling crude oil prices.”

According to the Fidelity Bank boss, the key to scale up the value of the naira is diversification, hence the collaboration with the NEPC and the LBS on the export capacity development programme.

While adding that economic diversification would offer great opportunities for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Okonkwo stated that the sum of N30bn had been earmarked to support Nigerian exporters.

The Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. Segun Awolowo, who expressed excitement over the partnership, said under the Zero Oil Plan, the agency had identified 11 sectors that would help to grow the economy.

“This partnership is really key for us. Possibilities are endless for Nigeria in export. Australia did this sometime ago; it developed people and went from 4,000 exporters to almost 50,000 exporters in a year by practically training them. This boosted its non-export.”

The Dean, LBS, Dr. Enase Okonedo, observed that nations having crude oil as natural resources faced a major threat if they failed to invest the proceeds on national development.

Represented by Dr. Frank Ojadi, the dean said, “Oil is not really a curse, it is more of what you do with the proceeds of oil. We have countries in the same position like Nigeria. United Arab Emirates also had oil like Nigeria.

“But today, they are no longer depending on oil.”