International Trade Seminar: Zenith Bank rallies Business Leaders behind Value Addition in Nigeria's Non-Oil Exports
Zenith Bank Plc hosted the 10th edition of its International
Trade Seminar on Non-Oil Export on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, marking a decade of
sustained advocacy for the diversification of Nigeria’s economy. The virtual
event brought together policymakers, regulators, exporters, manufacturers,
investors and development partners from across Africa and beyond, all focused
on one question: how Nigeria can earn more from what it sells to the world.
Held under the theme “Unlocking Value and Harnessing Growth”,
the seminar examined how Nigeria can move beyond exporting raw commodities to
building competitive value chains, strengthening trade infrastructure and
financing, and deepening the sector’s contribution to sustainable economic
growth.
In her welcome address, the Group Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Plc, Adaora Umeoji, paid tribute to the Bank’s
Founder, Jim Ovia, whose vision gave birth to the seminar in 2015, and urged
participants to turn Nigeria’s improving export numbers into lasting economic
value.
In her words: “Our theme, ‘Unlocking Value and Harnessing
Growth’, is not just a slogan. It speaks to the opportunities before us and the
need to translate our collective efforts into sustainable economic value.
According to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nigeria’s non-oil exports
reached a record $6.1 billion in 2025, up 11.5 per cent from the $5.46 billion
recorded in 2024, and a remarkable leap from the $612 million recorded a decade
earlier. Through our partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area
Secretariat, we have commenced the development of the SMARTAfCFTA portal, and
our integration with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System is making
cross-border business easier for our customers. Wherever our exporters need to
reach, Zenith Bank will reach with them.”
She commended President Bola Tinubu, for the structural reforms
creating a more enabling environment for businesses, and the Central Bank of
Nigeria, under Governor Olayemi Cardoso, for reforms that have improved foreign
exchange stability and market confidence.
“As we build on the progress recorded so far,” she added, “it is
important that, as a nation, we accelerate growth by creating more value
locally and exporting finished products, rather than just raw materials.”
Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Industry, Trade
and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, called for deeper trade and investment reforms,
a better export environment and wider market access within Africa and beyond.
“The question before us now is not simply how to export more,
but how to retain more value in Nigeria from everything we export,” she said.
“Our focus at the Ministry is straightforward: produce more
competitively in Nigeria, process more in Nigeria, connect Nigerian businesses
to bigger markets, and ensure that the financing, infrastructure and trade
systems exist to help them scale. In July, I assumed the chair of the AfCFTA
Council of Ministers, and I see at first hand that the opportunity before us
goes beyond the size of the African market of over 1.4 billion people and
approximately $3.4 trillion in GDP. It is about enabling Nigerian firms to sell
more products, reach more markets and deepen regional value chains. Nigeria’s
role as an AfCFTA digital trade co-champion further positions us to help shape
how this market evolves, particularly as digital trade creates new pathways for
Nigerian businesses to reach customers across the continent.”
She urged financial institutions to go beyond financing export
transactions to financing export capability, and encouraged Nigerian businesses
to prepare for intra-African trade by investing in productivity, quality and
skills.
In his presentation, the Chair of the Board of Directors of the
Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) and immediate past
President/Chairman of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, argued that the
moment demands new thinking.
“The theme chosen for this 10th edition is both apt and timely,”
he said.
“The global economy is experiencing unprecedented levels of
entropy. I do not raise this to alarm us. I raise it because a unique
opportunity lies ahead of us that may well pave the way to Africa’s ascendance.
The question is no longer whether Africa can attract enough external capital
and external demand to power its growth. The question is whether Africa, and
Nigeria within it, can build her own internal demand, participate effectively
in global supply chains, build the capacity to finance her own trade and
industries, and create her own markets.”
He commended Zenith Bank and its leadership for advancing
Nigeria’s non-oil export agenda over the past decade.
The Founder and Executive Chair of Plot Enterprise Ghana
Limited, Patricia Poku-Diaby, made the case for transformation plainly.
“Let us make no mistake: the future of our economy will not be
determined simply by what we grow or what we mine, but by what we transform,”
she said.
“We need to move from being suppliers of raw materials to
becoming producers, processors, manufacturers, exporters and owners of strong
African brands. Our focus should be on creating more value before our products
leave our shores.”
Speaking on the Nigeria-United Kingdom trade relationship, the
UK Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government, Florence Eshalomi, represented by Mujina Kaindama, Head of Trade
Policy for UK Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, commended the Bank for
the platform.
“The trade relationship between the United Kingdom and Nigeria
is one of immense importance and even greater potential,” she said.
“Nigeria is home to extraordinary entrepreneurial talent,
innovation and creativity. One of the most promising opportunities lies not
simply in increasing exports, but in increasing the value of those exports:
moving further up the value chain, processing raw materials, developing branded
products and creating higher-value manufactured and agricultural goods. In
doing so, Nigerian businesses can unlock greater returns, create jobs and build
sustainable economic growth.”
The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area
Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, placed the private sector at the centre of the
continent’s economic restructuring.
“The private sector is at the heart of the fundamental
restructuring of Africa’s economy that all of us want to see,” he said.
“The seminar Zenith Bank has convened strikes at the heart of
that objective: reducing the reliance of exports on unprocessed commodities and
accelerating industrialisation and value addition in Africa. The success of the
AfCFTA will ultimately be measured not by how many protocols and legal
instruments have been signed, but by the extent to which our private sector can
leverage the AfCFTA to access new markets, scale their investment and scale
their productive capacity to create jobs across the continent.”
The seminar featured two panel sessions. The public sector panel
brought together Abubakar Bello, Managing Director of the Nigerian
Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), represented by Hope Nyongo, Technical
Adviser; Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service;
Abubakar Dantsoho, Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian Ports Authority,
represented by Adebowale Lawal, Ports Manager, Lagos Ports Complex; Aderinola
Shonekan, Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Central Bank of Nigeria;
Nonye Ayeni, Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council;
and Adekunle Ajai, General Manager, Neroli Technologies. The panellists
committed to improving trade facilitation, customs efficiency, logistics
reform, trade advocacy and exporters’ access to funding.
The private sector panel featured Adeniji Adeyemi, MD/CEO of
Starlink Global & Ideal Limited; Sada Ladan-Baki, Group Executive Director,
International Trade and Export, Dangote Group; Bamidele Ayemibo, Senior
Consultant, 3T Impex Trade Centre; Mobolaji Salako, Managing Director, Terra
Aqua Environmental Consultancy Nigeria Limited; Ramzi Taher, Managing Director,
RMM Global Company Limited; Oluyemisi Iranloye, Founder/Managing Director,
Psaltry International; and Chinwe Ezenwa, MD/CEO, Lelook Nigeria Limited.
Their discussions centred on trade barriers, value creation and
addition, competitiveness, product certification, market intelligence and the
structured financing needed to scale non-oil exports.
The Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar on Non-Oil Export
was launched in 2015 to drive dialogue and action around Nigeria’s non-oil
export potential. Ten years on, the Bank continues to champion the sector’s
growth by opening up market opportunities and backing exporters with financing,
incentives and practical support.
The 2026 edition streamed live on Zoom, YouTube, Instagram,
Facebook, X and TikTok, drawing thousands of participants from 97 countries.
The tenth edition closed the way the first began a decade ago: with a
commitment to give Nigerian businesses the tools, partnerships and capital they
need to compete in regional and global markets.
Credit Zenith Bank PR
