Experts To Focus On Sustainable Export Earnings, At FICAN Annual Confab

The Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), will on Saturday, September 17, 2022, begin its two-day annual conference, which will bring together experts from global multilateral financial institutions, public and private sector players in Africa’s largest economy.

The experts will dissect, according to a statement by the association, various issues around the conference theme “Boosting Domestic Capacity for Sustainable Export Earnings,” at a time the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has, over time, evolved policy measures to achieve efficient management of available Foreign Exchange (forex) in a bid to boost the domestic economy.

To deliver the keynote speech at the event is Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director, of Fidelity Bank Plc, while Ifie Sekibo, her counterpart at Heritage Bank Limited, will be guest speaker.

They will be joined by top industry professionals from the Nigerian Shippers Council, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), NEXIM Bank, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the CBN, the Securities & Exchange Commission, Bank of Industry (BOI), and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), as well as Alhaji Adeniji Adeyemi, Chairman Starlink Nigeria Limited, a major exporter of Cocoa product.

The bank chiefs, relevant government agencies, handling companies and manufacturers, will participate in a panel discussion on challenges facing Nigeria’s local productive capacity for foreign exchange earnings and ways of eliminating them.

Panelists and media interactive session will centre on issues arising from the CBN Director of Development Finance speech; Keynote Speaker’s remarks, and sub-themes such as: Effective Implementation of the CBN RT 200 FX Programme, Role of Standardization in Nigeria’s Non-oil Export and Addressing Impediments to Commodity Exports.

While some reasonable results have been achieved on the demand side, the statement noted, supply side has remained the challenge, recalling that policy initiatives targeted at boosting forex supply have, most often, recorded limited results while the nation’s reserves bear the brunt as pressure mounts on the local currency, the Naira.

“Stakeholders therefore believe that reversing the nation’s weak productive capacity is the way out of this quagmire.

“It is against this background that the RT200 FX programme introduced by the CBN to stimulate domestic production towards enhanced non-oil forex earnings becomes imperative,” added.

The conference, which will be attended by over 150 finance journalists and business editors, across money market, capital market, SMEs and the insurance industry – from the print, online and electronic media platforms

Major sponsors of the conference, the statement continued, include: the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Nigeria Export Import (NEXIM) Bank, Heritage Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA),Bank of Industry (BOI), Sterling Bank, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Strategic Effects Limited, First City Monument Bank, Polaris Bank, Wema Bank, Sparkle Nigeria among others.

FICAN’s annual conference is also a learning platform designed to enhance awareness, deepen understanding of financial journalists on the role of stakeholders on various finance and economic policy initiatives.

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