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The newly appointed Executive Director and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, was on a courtesy visit to the Managing Director and CEO of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja recently to discuss areas of partnership. Mr. Orya stated that upon his resumption at the Government Trade Policy Bank in August 2009 as the MD/CEO, he discovered that the Bank’s mandate had veered off from its core mission and was, instead, lending to organisations in the oil and gas sector, which created poor credit performances and accrued losses to shareholders. To re-focus the Bank, Mr. Orya explained that he sought the approval of the Bank’s shareholders to set up a Corporate Transformation Project (Project Spring) that brought about the re-definition of the Bank’s Mission, Vision and Strategic Objectives, with the intention of channeling its resources into the development of four sectors namely, Manufacturing, Agro – Processing, Solid Minerals and Services. The MASS sectors were deemed to have high amount of employment and foreign exchange earnings.

140108 — Mr. Awolowo (NEPC) during a courtesy visit to Mr. Orya (NEXIM) recently

Mr. Orya noted further in his meeting with Mr. Awolowo that the NEXIM is deeply involved in projects in the ECOWAS region and other African markets so as to increase the trading opportunities for Nigerian exporters. The move, he noted, will provide a strong platform for exporters to exploit more complex markets of Asia and other developed economies in line with the strategy in other jurisdictions where the EXIM Banks first developed their regional market.