The Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) to strengthen the nation’s non-oil export ecosystem and accelerate economic diversification.
The Managing Director of BOI, Dr Olasupo Olusi, signed on behalf of the bank, while the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mrs Nonso Ayeni, signed for her agency.
The managing director of BOI, in his remarks, said, “The partnership represents a shared commitment to building a more diversified, resilient and competitive economy.
“This partnership demonstrates what can be achieved when institutions with shared mandates work together towards a common national objective.
“It is about working together to identify enterprises that are financing ready. These enterprises are those that are focused on exports, but they need financing to be able to do that. So, we will provide the financing.
“NEPC will help to identify those enterprises that need support and are focused on exporting to other countries. There are no financial implications. BOI already finances several exporters, but this will help us to better target the exporting community.”
According to him, Nigeria’s economic future lies in its ability to produce, process and export high-quality goods and services that can compete in regional and global markets.
Olusi commended NEPC’s performance, noting that according to its Annual Progress Report, Nigeria’s non-oil exports rose to an all-time high of 6.1 billion dollars in 2025.
He, however, said challenges such as limited access to finance, inadequate logistics and export infrastructure, low value addition, and difficulties meeting international standards still limited exporters’ competitiveness.
According to him, the MoU will address these constraints through integrated export financing, support for export clusters and aggregation centres, value-chain development, and programmes on market readiness, branding, certification and compliance.
He said that a key focus of the collaboration was Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which remained the backbone of the economy but face significant barriers in accessing export markets.
The BOI boss said the partnership would also prioritise women-owned businesses and youth entrepreneurship to promote inclusive growth, shared prosperity and social progress.
He added that both institutions would strengthen research, policy advocacy, joint monitoring and stakeholder engagement to ensure interventions remain effective and data-driven.
“The success of this partnership will not be measured by the signing alone, but by businesses empowered, value of exports generated, jobs created, foreign exchange earnings and contribution to diversification,” Olusi said.
He reaffirmed BOI’s commitment to working with NEPC to deliver measurable and sustainable impact for Nigeria’s export sector.
The NEPC boss in her remarks, described the strategic partnership between NEPC and BOI as the beginning of a transformative journey for Nigeria’s non-oil export sector.
Ayeni said the collaboration was not new, noting that both institutions had previously worked together alongside agencies like SMEDAN and NEXIM at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2025.
According to her, that collaboration helped Nigeria win the Best Pavilion for Doing Business, with about 110 million dollars worth of contracts signed at the event.
“This is not the first. This is a great initiative. This is the beginning of a great journey. Collaboration is the best way to go,” she said.
Ayeni disclosed that Nigeria had recorded unprecedented growth in non-oil exports, achieving the highest volume of exports, highest value, and highest number of distinct products exported to 120 countries, including within the ECOWAS sub-region and under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The NEPC boss said the new partnership with BOI would further improve and scale up those gains.
“This collaboration will focus on many areas that will further improve what we do in terms of non-oil export, in terms of cluster formation,” she said.
Ayeni noted that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) accounted for over 86 per cent of businesses in Nigeria and constituted the majority of registered exporters with NEPC.
“They are doing great things, wonderful things. This collaboration will help us further harness the opportunities and help exporters scale up,” Ayeni added.
She listed priority areas for the partnership to include cluster development, quality and standards, certification, capacity building, product development, e-commerce and digital trade.
Ayeni expressed confidence that the collaboration with BOI would deliver transformative results for Nigeria’s export ecosystem
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