Shippers’ Council Seeks Collaborations With NEXIM Bank

The executive secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Barrister, Hassan Bello, paid a courtesy visit to NEXIM Bank on Tuesday June 25, 2018 to discuss and explore areas of collaboration and synergy between the two organisations. Bello and his team were received by the managing director/chief executive officer, NEXIM Bank, Mr. Abba Bello, and other top management staff of the bank.

In his opening remarks the executive secretary stated that the objective of the visit was to seek for the support and collaboration of NEXIM Bank towards actualising two projects with huge economic potentials and were targeted towards boosting trade and export opportunities, employment creation and foreign exchange earnings for the country.
The projects which include the establishment of inland dry ports and truck transit parks in designated states of the country, are initiatives of the council which has the support of the National Economic Council ( NEC) of the federal government and are aimed at addressing the issue of decongesting the Nigerian sea ports in order to provide seamless movement of goods and services between the sea ports/dry inland ports, and assist in the overall costs of cargo to hinterland locations as well as transit cargoes to landlocked countries.
The truck transit parks would also provide multiple benefits, including safety of truck drivers and the environment, while also stimulating other economic activities as hotels, restaurants and hospitals would be built around the parks.

Bello also discussed the merits of other collaborative initiatives between the two agencies like the Sealink project, which is an initiative of NEXIM Bank. In concluding, he informed the meeting of the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in providing an enabling platform for the dry inland port and ended his remarks by appealing and soliciting for NEXIM’s intervention under a public- private partnership structure.

In his response, the MD/CEO NEXIM Bank commended the efforts of the management of the council and emphasized the need to deepen relationship with relevant agencies and stakeholders in the sector to collaborate/explore areas of synergy so as to provide the much needed infrastructure and logistics to ensure that a standard dry port was established.
He further said the Inland dry port would promote and drive the exports of Nigerian products, and would also serve the West and Central African markets that are landlocked. The NEXIM MD pledged the bank’s commitment to drive the initiative by participating on a promotional basis and providing the relevant technical/ financial support.
He urged the council to come up with a workable template/framework to map out the areas of partnership and support to be provided by NEXIM Bank.