Yobe State Government and the Nigerian Export- Import Bank (NEXIM), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on sustainable economic development of the state.
The bank’s Managing Director, Mr Abba Bello, was quoted by the Head, Strategy and Corporate Communications Mr Tayo Omidiji, as saying that the deal with the state government was part of the bank’s mandate was to promote non-oil export businesses in the country.
Bello was optimistic that the MoU would facilitate export-related industrialisation and attract investments that will utilise local resource endowments, support jobs creation and economic development of the state.
He assured on the bank’s readiness to work in partnership with the state government to drive the Bank’s economic diversification efforts and to promote the development of exportable agricultural products in the state.
The banker further hinted that the Bank had inaugurated the Regional/State Export Development Fund, with each state earmarked N1 billion in furtherance of the Federal Government’s objectives under the One State, One Product Programme, towards developing at least one commodity of export significance.
In her remarks, the bank’s Executive Director, (Business Development), Ms Stella Okotete, while presenting some of the Bank’s products and initiatives, reiterated the objectives of the State Export Development Programme.
She explained that the Bank’s intervention was targeted at developing all aspects of the export value chain from production to processing, under its new philosophy of Produce, Add Value and Export (PAVE).
According to her, the Bank’s objective was to work with the state towards developing related industries for the export market, particularly against the background of the increased opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Responding, the state Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Alhaji Barma Shettima, expressed the government’s commitment to collaborate with bank for the development of the state.
He maintained that the state had comparative advantage in numerous agro-allied produce and huge deposits of premium quality solid minerals, among which the government had identified Sesame Seed and Gypsum for immediate development and value addition for export.
The commissioner said that the parties would take immediate steps to operationalise the partnership in order to achieve the innumerable benefits.
