AfDB backs Nexim Bank’s Sealink project with $.3m grant

The efforts of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) to facilitate the establishment of a regional maritime company, The Sealink Project, has received a fresh boost with the signing of a financial grant with the African Development Bank (AfDB) for $302, 000 under the aegis of the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF).
Speaking at the event, the Resident Representative for the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Nigeria, Mr. Ousmane Dore, reiterated AfDB’s commitment to promoting infrastructure development in Africa as being in line with the Bank’s overarching objective to spur sustainable economic development, social progress and poverty reduction in the regional member countries (RMCs). He indicated that an innovative maritime initiative such as the Sealink Project would greatly assist in bridging the artificial boundaries that have hitherto prevented trade, economic integration and seamless logistic services within the region. He was particularly impressed that NEXIM deemed it strategic enough to enlarge the scope of the project to include the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) region (for which feasibility study part of the grant shall be applied), and expressed the hope that eventually the project would cover the entire region and enhance trade, free movement of persons, goods and services.

 
In his remarks, Mr. Roberts Orya, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of NEXIM Bank thanked the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) and African Development Bank (AfDB) for the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF) grant to NEXIM.

He said, “The release of this financial grant of US$302,000 to NEXIM Bank under the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF) (which is) managed by African Development Bank is an attestation of the confidence the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as other key stakeholders in our commitment, especially through the SEALINK Project, to facilitate the free movement of persons, goods and services within the West and Central African sub-regions.…”

 
The US$302, 000 grant would be used to conduct further feasibility studies on the project to extend it to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), as well as enhance the Sealink promotional activities and assist in the development of human capital and corporate governance structure of the the Sealink Promotional Company Limited (SPV) which was incorporated to facilitate the project implementation. The SPV is being promoted by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI), Nigerian Export – Import Bank (NEXIM) and Transimex, S. A, Cameroun.