Zenith Bank to Develop SmartAfCFTA for Trade Promotion

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A portal to unlock the vast opportunities for trade on the African continent is to be designed by Zenith Bank Plc in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.

The platform, SmartAfCFTA, will provide information like trade indicators, market trends, custom tariffs, trade agreements, rules of origin, market access requirements of relevant jurisdictions, export potentials, export diversification indicators and contact details of business partners in target markets and other trade-related information about Africa.

At the 8th Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar on Non-Oil Export in Lagos, both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to make this a reality in order to promote trade within the African continent.

The chief executive of Zenith Bank, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said, “This collaboration aims to unlock the vast opportunities presented by AfCFTA not only for Nigeria’s economic prosperity but also for advancing trade across African countries.”

He noted the key role that the annual Zenith Bank Trade Seminar plays in deepening the conversation on promoting non-oil export in Nigeria by 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, noting that previous editions’ outcomes have found expression and influenced policy initiatives.

For instance, the extension of the period of repatriation of Non-Oil Export proceeds from 90 days to 180 days, and the policy mandating shippers not to carry export without a Nigeria Export Proceeds (NXP) Form Number were recommendations from previous seminars.

Also, the need to incentivise exporters to repatriate their export proceeds through the official channels and the recommendation to create export terminals across various export hubs in the country were also from past seminars.

Also, previous editions recommended having Export Desks in commercial banks, which has now been instituted.

In his keynote address, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Mr Wamkele Mene, thanked the chairman of Zenith Bank, Mr Jim Ovia, for partnering with the AfCFTA for the development of the SmartAfCFTA Portal.

“Zenith Bank was the first bank to say we want to partner with you. We went to see the founder and Chairman, and he said that Zenith Bank wants to make a contribution to digitise trade in Africa. And so, the portal was not my idea, it was not our idea at the AfCTA Secretariat, it was Zenith Bank that stepped up and said, this has to be done! So, I want to thank you very much, GMD, for this collaboration,” he stated.

In his goodwill message, the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Folashodun Shonubi, represented by the Deputy CBN on Economic Policy, Mr Kingsley Obiora, commended Zenith Bank for leading Nigeria’s non-oil export promotion advocacy.

He bemoaned the 1.2 per cent non-oil export to total GDP ratio and emphasised the need for concerted efforts to boost non-oil exports in Nigeria.

Zenith Bank launched the Non-Oil Export Seminar in 2016 as an initiative to deepen the discourse on promoting the non-oil export business in Nigeria.

This year’s event was themed Nigerian Non-Oil Export Industry: The Present, The Future, and it featured several dignitaries like the Secretary of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, and others.