By Dipo Olowookere
A commercial bank with the licence to operate across Nigeria, Titan Trust Bank Limited, has been given the approval to collect fees on behalf of the federal government under the Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS).
The approval was given by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, according to a notice issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday.
Business Post reports that NESS is a statutory payment to the Nigerian government on all legitimate goods exported from Nigeria which include the payment for non-oil goods.
According to information gathered from the Nigeria trade portal, this levy is charged at 0.50 per cent of the value of the export and it is collected by the CBN through the authorised commercial banks.
The appointment of Titan Trust Bank as a collector of the fee for the government expands the various channels exporters can use to remit this fee to the apex bank.
“This is to notify all authorised dealers, service providers and the general public that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning has approved the appointment of Titan Trust Bank as one of the designated banks for the collection of NESS Levy.
“Authorised dealers are, therefore, enjoined to bring the information to the attention of their exporting customers,” the circular issued and signed by the director of Trade and Exchange Department of the CBN, Mr O.S. Nnaji, yesterday read.
Titan Trust Bank was established on December 12, 2018, and obtained its national banking license on April 26, 2019, to operate as a commercial bank with national authorization.
Its license is the first national banking license that the CBN has granted in the last 10 years.
The lender was formed to take advantage of the identified gaps in the banking sector and address the unmet needs of the retail mass market, SMEs and corporate institutions.
The company boasts of best-in-class bankers, supporting the execution of the bank’s strategy while delivering on its service promise. The branch network of the financial institution is structured to uniquely enhance quality service delivery with a great customer experience.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale