Leah Katung-Babatunde, Abuja
President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Professor Benedict Oramah has been awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Nigeria (GCON), Nigeria’s second-highest national honour, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The honour was conferred on Friday at the closing of the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Abuja, where President Tinubu described Oramah as “one of Nigeria’s finest,” recognising his immense contribution to Africa’s economic development through visionary leadership at the helm of Afreximbank.
Tinubu said, “This, the world will not wait for Africa; a united and purposeful Africa can define its destiny. And history will record that African leaders chose to shape their own future. Thank you for your presence, and thank you, Oramah, for your service.”
In his remarks, President Tinubu also celebrated Afreximbank’s impact on Nigeria’s industrial development, including strategic financing for major projects.
“Flagship projects such as the Dangote and BUA refineries, the African Medical Centre of Excellence, and the African Quality Assurance Centre embody confidence in Nigeria and Africa’s future,” Tinubu said.
He also announced Nigeria’s formal adoption of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), an initiative developed by Afreximbank to support real-time cross-border transactions in local currencies, cutting out the need for external intermediaries.
“Our collaboration with Afreximbank is not just about capital,” Tinubu noted. “It is about co-creating institutions, infrastructure, and innovation to define Africa’s economic future.”
The 32nd Annual Meetings of Afreximbank brought together heads of state and government, ministers, captains of industry, and other stakeholders from across Africa and the Caribbean.
It also marked the final appearance of Prof. Oramah as president of the Bank, capping a decade of transformative leadership.
During his emotional farewell speech Oramah said, “For me personally, today’s event is epoch-making, as it marks the last time I would be addressing you at the Annual Meetings of the Bank, as its President. I gave the job the best of my energy, intellect, courage and determination,”
Under his leadership since 2015, Afreximbank’s total investments in Africa and the Caribbean amounted to approximately $155 billion, including $120 billion disbursed between 2020 and May 2025 alone.
He recalled the promises he made in Lusaka ten years ago when he was first elected, to build a solid, well-capitalised institution that would drive intra-African trade, foster export led industrialisation, and support economic resilience across the continent.
“I made a solemn promise to Shareholders to, and I quote: ‘… deliver a solid bank that will be a leader among its peers in all measures of financial performance … to quickly grow the capital of the Bank in absolute terms, improve capitalisation through innovative capital management initiatives, ensure first-class risk management, and achieve adequate returns to shareholders’,” he said.
Backed by strong shareholder confidence and equity injections, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees grew more than eight-fold, reaching $43.5 billion by April 2025.
The Afrexim President noted that net income rose to nearly $1 billion in 2024, a 700% increase from 2015. Shareholders’ funds climbed from $1 billion to $7.5 billion, while African-sourced funding rose from 11.7 percent in 2015 to 36.6 percent by May 2025.
He reflected on Afreximbank’s response to major global and regional crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank played a leading role in securing essential health supplies for Africa through the African Medical Supplies Platform and provided a $2 billion facility that enabled pooled procurement of 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for African and Caribbean nations.
“When the COVID-19 vaccines arrived, and there was no financing available, Afreximbank came to the rescue and provided a $2 billion facility which made it possible for Africa and the CARICOM economies to achieve a pooled procurement of four hundred (400) million doses of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, the first ever pooled procurement of such a magnitude by Africa,” he said.
Similarly, following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the bank disbursed $50 billion between 2022 and 2023 to help African countries diversify supply chains, strengthen food security, and develop local refinery and fertiliser capacity.
Despite these emergency interventions, Oramah stressed the Bank’s focus on long-term transformation, including support for intra-African trade through PAPSS, the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, and harmonisation of standards across African countries. He described Afreximbank’s approach as grounded in a home-grown strategy.
“Our approach at Afreximbank has been to find an alternative ‘best practice’, ‘the African best practice’, because we realised that there was no common denominator practice that propelled the high-performing economies of the world. Each great nation shaped its own destiny,” he said. “And for us, the African best practice means that an institution like ours must understand the power of capital owned and controlled by Africans, in unlocking Africa’s development.”
He also cited the Bank’s role in industrialisation, including the upcoming launch of a large textile facility in Nigeria under a $5 billion programme that is expected to create 250,000 jobs and save the country nearly $5 billion in imports. “The facility, which is a larger version of a similar facility in Benin Republic would produce 350,000 tonnes of garments per year and save Nigeria about $4.7 billion in import while reviving the entire Nigerian cotton industry.”
In the health sector, Oramah highlighted the recent commissioning of the African Medical Centre of Excellence in Abuja and the establishment of a $75 million endowment fund to support life sciences research and subsidised care for the less privileged.
On Afreximbank’s growing partnership with the Caribbean, he announced that 12 CARICOM states had joined the bank as partners, with a 13th set to follow in July. The bank has disbursed millions of dollars in project support across the region and is leading a $1.6 billion oil facility in Suriname.
As shareholders prepare to vote on his successor, Oramah urged African leaders and partners to rally around the Bank’s mission and its next leadership.
“I urge you all to continue your strong support for the Bank and its new leadership, post my exit from your great Bank,” he said.
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