The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Gabriel Idahosa, at the weekend, said only increased trade activities can boost the value of naira against foreign currencies.
He said if Nigeria does not engage in exports as much as it imports, the trade imbalance would continue to weaken the naira, and the scramble for dollars would continue to weigh down on the economy
He spoke at the unveiling of the Annual Trade Finance Survey in Nigeria, 2024, put together by the 3T Impex Consulting Limited held at the LCCI Building, Alausa Lagos.
The survey indicated a significant gap in the understanding and competence of Nigerian bankers in various aspects of international trade.
“This lack of expertise not only affects the banks but also impacts Nigeria’s overall trade volume, which lags behind other developing countries with similar or even smaller populations like South Africa,” the survey said.
According to the LCCI president, those in the business of buying and selling dollars would not have any relevance where Nigeria is engaged in more exports than imports.
He said, “It is export that grows the value of any currency. Export, export, and export more. If we keep doing that, nobody will go and buy dollars anymore.
“So trade is about exchange of value. We should sell and we should be buying. If we don’t participate in both sides of trading, buying, and selling, then our currency would continue to be very weak, but if we are exporting and importing, then our currency would be very strong. It is very simple; you don’t require any special effort to make our currency to be very strong.
“Once we continue to export goods and services, whether it is products, music, tourism, whether it is travel, we must export goods and services regularly.
“Then there would be jobs provided. Countries with a very high level of employment are not performing any special task rather than increasing activities, businesses, setting up businesses, and exporting goods and services.”
The lead consultant at the 3T Impex Consulting Limited, Dr Bamidele Ayemibo, stated that the country must improve on the use of technology in trade transactions.
He called for improved human capacity development of bankers to improve international trade transactions.
“The reason this research was done is to improve the capacity of the bankers in export finance. This is the issue in the industry, and this is how they can fix it. If we bridge the skill gap among the bankers, we can address the issues around the challenges of trade finance. Through capacity building for the bankers, we can begin to see the difference.”
He said over 700 bankers were involved in the survey, cutting across tier one and tier two banks as well as non-interest banks and merchant banks.
Participants at the summit said the six-month intensive course facilitated by the consulting firm had broadened their knowledge on how to mitigate risks in international trade finance.
