NEXIM Signs $302,000 Grant With AfDB

THE efforts of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) to facilitate the establishment of a regional maritime company, the sealink project, has received a fresh boost with the signing of a financial grant with the African Development Bank (AfDB) of $302, 000 under the aegis of the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF).

The objective of the sealink project is to promote intra and inter-African trade, thereby fostering regional integration, economic growth and development in the West and Central African sub-regions. This is in line with the government’s transformational policy on trade and transport as articulated in the regional trade component of the new trade policy. 

Speaking at the event, the Resident Representative for AfDB group in Nigeria, Mr. Ousmane Dore, reiterated AfDB’s commitment to promoting infrastructure development in Africa in line with the bank’s objective to spur sustainable economic development, social progress and poverty reduction in the regional member countries (RMCS). 

He indicated that an innovative maritime initiative such as the sealink project would greatly assist in bridging the artificial boundaries that had hitherto prevented trade, economic integration and seamless logistic services within the region. He was particularly impressed that NEXIM deemed it strategic enough to enlarge the scope of the project to include the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) region for which feasibility study part of the grant shall be applied, and expressed the hope that eventually the project would cover the entire region and enhance trade, free movement of persons, goods and services. 

 In his remarks, Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer of NEXIM Bank, Mr. Roberts Orya, thanked the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) and AfDB for the NTCF grant to NEXIM. 

Orya said: “The release of this financial grant of $302,000 to NEXIM Bank under the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF), which is managed by African Development Bank is an attestation of the confidence the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as other key stakeholders in our commitment, especially through the sealink project, to facilitate the free movement of persons, goods and services within the West and Central African sub-regions.”