President Muhammadu Buhari has urged executives of banking institutions in West Africa to forge a closer collaboration to tackle the economic challenges confronting the sub-region.
The President made the call Tuesday while receiving a delegation from the West African Bankers Association (WABA), led by its President, Thierno Seydou Nourou Sy.
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President Buhari said the sub-region must find a common understanding and ground to address low access to financial services and recovery from the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
He told the association founded in 1981 with over 250 commercial banks and 15 institutions from across West Africa, that, for many centuries, African countries had traded with one another without a formalized and structured system.
President Buhari, who said over time, global trade had become more complex and organized, expressed confidence that the rollout of the African Continental Free Trade Area would be a turning point in how African countries trade with each other.
”More importantly, we will turn the page in ensuring that we deepen and expand our industrial capabilities by making sure we export less of what we have been endowed with in primary or raw form, and convert larger portions of these resources into finished materials.
”That will allow us to benefit from the revenue earned from the added value of exporting a finished product,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.
The President promised that Nigeria will always be ready to support efforts that are geared toward improving the lives of all its citizens ”as long as they do not place us at a disadvantage.”
The WABA President hailed the lead role Nigeria played in the African economy and said President Buhari’s leadership was well appreciated.
”That’s why we are here for counsel and guidance for the financial sector in West Africa,” he said.
He urged President Buhari to be an advocate for greater inclusion for WABA in the ECOWAS structure, also noting that one of the challenges with the banking system is capacity building, and urging Nigeria to set up a training academy for the industry.
