<p>Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the Group Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, has called for a concerted effort towards diversifying the country’s export base through the promotion of non-oil exports.</p>



<p> He made the call during a Webinar themed “Prospects of <a href="https://openlife.ng/">Non-Oil Export</a> During and Post COVID-19” organized by the bank on Wednesday, August 26, 2020.</p>



<p>According to him, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted the demand for oil and, by extension, the price of crude oil in the international commodities market has further exposed Nigeria’s over-dependency on crude oil earnings and its susceptibility to oil-related shocks. He added that the events of the last couple of months have also highlighted the limited range of the country’s value-added products exported to foreign markets.</p>



<p>He noted further that boosting non-oil export is imperative in view of the opportunities that exist in the broader contexts of <a href="https://openlife.ng/">ECOWAS</a> Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which seeks to create a continent-wide market of 1.2 billion people with combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion and about $4 trillion in consumer and business spending.</p>



<p>Whilst commending the efforts of the government and the <a href="http://www.wsj.com">Central Bank of Nigeria</a> (CBN) to deepen the non-oil export business in the country, <strong>Ebenezer</strong> Onyeagwu urged players in the non-oil export value-chain including exporters and financial institutions to play their part in the drive towards expanding the nation’s non-oil export base.</p>



<p>Delivering the keynote address, the Director of Trade &; Exchange, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. (Mrs) OzoemenaNnaji, who commended Zenith Bank for organizing the webinar at a time like this, observed that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for the country, as it has once again exposed the over-dependence of the Nigerian economy on one product. She therefore called for a deeper policy look at the non-oil sector to find ways of genuinely improving the quality and quantity of our non-oil export goods.</p>



<p>Also speaking at the Webinar, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo commended the efforts of Zenith bank in promoting non-oil export business in Nigeria, describing the bank as ‘the Export Trade Bank of Nigeria’. Speaking on the topic “Repositioning Non-oil export as a Leading Revenue Earner: Government Plans and Programmes”, Awolowo noted that the crash in oil prices following the COVID-19 pandemic and<a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com"> OPEC</a>’s price war with Russia reinforced what everyone already knows – the mono-product economy of the country is not sustainable, calling for a buy-in into the Zero oil policy of NEPC.</p>



<p>Zenith Bank remains committed to the promotion of the non-oil export sector in Nigeria by identifying emerging opportunities which help in stimulating non-oil exports and developing robust financial products and incentives for operators in the sector. The bank launched the Non-Oil Export Seminar in 2017 as an initiative to deepen the discourse on promoting non-oil export business in Nigeria. ;</p>

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