Mr. Robert Orya

The Managing Director of Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Mr. Robert Orya, Tuesday visited the facilities of Origin Group in Lagos. The visit, according to him, was a duty inspection visit to selected private sector players in a bid to boost the development of the non-oil sector through export promotion programmes of value added products.

Orya spoke of the numerous efforts of NEXIM Bank in supporting the vision 2020 of the Federal Government especially through increased export trade activities in the West African sub-region; he spoke about different in-country trade barriers and among ECOWAS member States especially in formalizing trade activities that are hitherto going on across Nigerian borders without being captured in national trade statistics.

Orya said the potential of the agricultural sector and other non-oil sectors for employment creation and national development is very huge and must be given priority attention through consistent institutional supports and risk mitigation frameworks by relevant agencies of government.

He inspected the tractor assembly plant of Origin Automobile Works (a subsidiary of Origin Group) where about 1800 tractors of dfifferent capacities shall be assembled for a special agricultural development project tagged ‘Tractorise Nigeria’; he also visited the proposed factory site for tomato paste dilution plant of Vegefresh Company Ltd (another subsidiary of Origin Group), export processing facilities of the Group and furniture manufacturing factory among other things.

The MD of Origin Group, Mr. S. J Samuel, while responding, thanked the MD NEXIM for the visit which he said was an encouragement to the Group.

He also pledged the support of Origin Group to the vision and aspirations of NEXIM Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria as he revealed that more than 2000 jobs will be created by the Group before the end of the second quarter of 2013.