Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, has lauded the Mangement of NEXIM for good performance in spite of non- performing loans and paucity of operational funds faced by the bank.
Ahmed gave the commendation while inaugurating the newly-appointed Executive Management Board of Nigerian Export , Import Bank (NEXIM) on Friday in Abuja.
The Minister said that the bank had witnessed a complete turnaround in all areas of its operational and financial indices which wey now on the path of growth.
She also said that the bank had a healthy balance sheet that grew from about N63bn in April 2017 to the current level of N250bn
She added that the bank had recovered from a loss position of eight billion niara in 2016 to a sustained profitability, reaching 4.1bn in 2021, while over N12bn had also been recovered in non – performing loans.
She said that developments such as BREXIT and the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement had created opportunities that the bank should leverage on.
She also said that with development and opportunities present , NEXIM should be in the vanguard of initiating and driving key initiatives to unlock the opportunities there in.
She , therefore, urged the newly inaugurated members of the bank to re- double their efforts and move the bank to greater heights.
” Our expectations and hope in the next five years is to see that NEXIM Bank will take Nigeria to the world in a similar manner with institutions such as Exim China and BNDES of Brazil.
” In the next five years, we would like to see a quantum leap in the contribution of the non-oil sector to export revenue to at least 30 per cent.
“This I believe is possible and government will be willing and ready to give you the desires support to achieve this target.
.”The threat of a mono product economy is real, and the recent episode of Covid-19 pandemic has further underscored the need for Nigeria to widen its export basket and deepen its export market,” she said.
Responding, Mr Abba Bello, the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, assured of the bank’s commitment to ensure it contributed it’s own quota for the development of the economy.
He said that the bank’s contributions would always remain positive, to be at par with its counterparts globally.
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Bello, However, solicited for the Ministry’s support to enable it to achieve its mandate.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the re-appointment of the Board by Mr President for the second and final term is for a period of five years which commenced on April , 21.
The inuagurated Board Members are Mr Abba Bello as the Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Dr Bale Bello as the Executive Director corporate services and Stella Okotete as the Executive Director, Business Development
