Nigeria: Central Bank Chief Emefiele to Address Maiden Non-Oil Exports Summit

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele would address the maiden summit on Non-oil Exports under the Race to $200 billion in Foreign Exchange (FX) Repatriation (RT200) programme.

The summit would hold in Lagos, on Thursday.

The RT 200 initiative was launched in February 2022, by the central bank in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee to boost forex repatriation by non-oil exporters.

With the theme: “Setting the Roadmap toward Achieving RT200 and Non-oil Export for Development,” the forum would focus on the current situation in the economy, the commitment to addressing the challenges as well as driving the development and improvement of the non-oil export sector.

A statement issued by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of the apex bank, Osita Nwanisobi, disclosed that the one-day summit specifically seeks to identify challenges across the non-oil export value chain from the perspectives of all stakeholder groups as well as provide understanding of the current situation and the implications to Nigerian citizens and the economy as a basis for urgent action.

The statement listed other objectives of the summit to include understanding trends and lessons from other countries including regional and global market outlook; share best practices across the agriculture exporting value chain and guidance on how to obtain financial assistance and to identify opportunities for improving the performance and viability of non-oil exports.

Ultimately, it said the CBN and its partners, through the summit would seek to launch the development of a comprehensive Non-Oil Export Optimisation framework.

The summit which was expected to extract voluntary commitments and initiatives to support the non-oil Export Renewal Plan would feature a keynote by Emefiele as well as expert presentations and panel discussions to address the country’s current non-oil export sector situation and proffer recommendations.

Participants at the summit would cut across stakeholders in the non-oil sector including but not limited to the mineral resources, manufacturing and agricultural export sectors including primary agriculture players; aggregators, storage, logistics and freight transport operators; exporters; road transport agencies; security agencies and government ministries at federal and state levels.

It would be recalled that the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee in February 2022, unveiled the RT200 programme, a set of plans, policies, and programmes designed to increase the nation’s earnings exclusively from non-oil exports to $200 billion in FX repatriation, within the next five years.

The RT200 initiative was designed to be implemented through five anchors: Value Adding Exports Facility (VEF); Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility (NCEF); Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme (NFRS); Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal; and the hosting of a Bi-annual Non-Oil Export Summit.

James Emejo in Abuja

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