Business
AFREXIM Bank Moves To Facilitate AfCFTA Implementation
The African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM) says it has created trade financing programmes to facilitate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.
President, AFREXIM Bank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, made the disclosure yesterday at the 2nd Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria – Export Promotion Group (MANEG) in Lagos.
The event was themed: “Leveraging On The African Continental Free Trade Agreement for Export Expansion in Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sector”
Oramah, who was represented by Managing Director, Intra Africa Trade Initiative, Mrs Kanayo Awane, said the policies were borne out of the need to upscale the Nigeria’s manufacturing sector in the intra African trade arena.
“Between 1980 and 2018, Asia’s share of contribution to global trade increased from 4.4 per cent to 20 per cent, while Africa’s share fell from 6 per cent to 2.3 per cent.
“The marginalization of Africa in global trade is a consequence of a number of factors.
“Most notably is the continued reliance on the imports of private commodities in a world where global trade is increasingly dominated by manufactured products.
“Private commodities and natural resources continue to account for a significant share of Africa’s total import.
“We have to reposition African economies as competitors rather than collaborators,” he said.
Oramah noted that AfCFTA held phenomenal growth and export opportunities for Nigeria, adding that AFREXIM was working with the African Union to support its implementation in Nigeria.
Oramah, therefore, called on stakeholders in the manufacturing sector to work together to place Nigeria in its rightful place as the largest economy in Africa.
Similarly, the Executive Director, Business Development, Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Mrs Stella Oketete, said the bank had approved over N54 billion since 2018 to support exporters in the country.
“We also developed a programme to support Small and Medium scale businesses called Small and Medium Export Development Fund, she said.
According to Oketete, the bank is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria Financial System Strategy 2020 (CBN) and other key stakeholders to promote the introduction of factoring in Nigeria.
“This is a financial inclusion strategy that would be an alternative financing instrument for small and medium scale enterprises, thereby broadening local trade financing instruments,” she said.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman, MANEG, Mr Ede Dafinone, lauded the Federal Government for the part payment of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) for the 2017 EEG applications.
He, however, expressed optimism that the Federal Government would pay the balance to exporters.
“Total non-oil export earnings data received through the banks as reported by CBN revealed a marginal increase of 1.5 per cent at the end of 2018.
“The low performance would need for a more export friendly government and in particular the need to restart EEG which is on record as the most successful export incentive deployed by the Federal Government,” he said.
Dafinone also urged the Federal Government to consider opening the border soon to facilitate the exportation of goods.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.