CAIRO, Egypt (Chatnewstv.com) — The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) celebrated the end of an era Friday, marking the retirement of Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah as its President and Chairman of the Board of Directors with a legacy conference that drew global leaders and focused on his successful push for intra-African trade and investment.
The farewell event, held in Cairo, attracted more than 2,000 guests, including heads of state, former government leaders from across Africa and the Caribbean, top African business leaders, and past and future Afreximbank presidents.
In his farewell address, Prof. Oramah announced that he made the promotion of intra-African trade the core of the bank’s strategy because of a deep-seated conviction that it was “the only viable path forward for Africa’s development and economic emancipation.”
Reversing the Colonial Strategy
Oramah, whose 10-year tenure began in September 2015, asserted that his administration’s philosophy was to aggressively “reverse-engineer the colonial strategy of ‘divide-and-rule’ and ‘divide-and-conquer’ that had, for decades, pinned Africa and people of African descent down.”
He stressed the importance of internal drive for the continent’s progress.
“Accordingly, our philosophy was that Africa’s development dynamo must be powered from within, as hundreds of years of history, had shown us that external interests had been mostly predatory and parasitic, unless engaged from a position of strength and purpose,” Oramah explained.
He added that due to the bank’s efforts, “we can point to tangible differences the Bank has made; we can now point to those things that now exist, those new institutional arrangements and interventions that have now joined as formidable forces in Africa’s armoury in its fight towards true self-determination.”
A Decade of Exponential Growth
Under Prof. Oramah’s leadership, Afreximbank saw its balance sheet and guarantees grow nearly eight-fold, skyrocketing from $6 billion when he took office to almost $44 billion by September 2025.
Dr. George Elombi, Afreximbank’s President Designate, praised his predecessor as “one of the few in the world, the 0.8 per cent, who combines vision and execution.”
Dr. Elombi highlighted the instrumental role Oramah played in advancing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). “Instruments were created to dismantle the obstacles that have hindered Africa’s progress for nearly seven decades since Africa’s independence. He confronted the challenges of Africa’s industrial underdevelopment head-on,” Elombi said. He added that Oramah “has turned decades and centuries-old political wishes into tangible gains for all Africans.”
Key Achievements and Legacy
The outgoing president’s tenure was marked by the introduction of several far-reaching initiatives, programs, and products designed to boost African trade and economic growth, cementing Afreximbank’s status as a top trade finance institution.
Major accomplishments highlighted at the conference include:
AfCFTA Implementation: Afreximbank’s support, including a $1 billion commitment to the AfCFTA Adjustment Funds, helped accelerate the continent’s new trading regime.
Pan-African Payment System: The bank backed the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) with a $3 billion clearing facility, enabling cross-border trade in local currencies across 20 countries.
Intra-African Trade Fair: The biennial fair, introduced in 2018, has so far attracted over $170 billion in trade and investment deals and 180,000 visitors, tackling the challenge of limited access to trade and investment information.
COVID-19 Response: The bank disbursed over $10 billion for Africa’s pandemic response and committed $2 billion to help Africa and the Caribbean procure COVID-19 vaccines.
Infrastructure: Afreximbank supported the development of industrial parks and special economic zones, including heavy industries like the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, and launched the African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme with a $1 billion guarantee to ease goods movement.
The bank’s work also ignited socio-cultural and economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean (CARICOM) and the broader African diaspora, and its African Medical Centre of Excellence projects are improving healthcare access.
The conference, which also included tributes from staff, business leaders, and political figures, celebrated Prof. Oramah’s profound impact on African development efforts.
