Gabon confers top national honours on Afreximbank’s President and Executive Vice President

LIBREVILLE, Gabon –  President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema of Gabon, has conferred the honour of Commander of the National Order of Merit on Prof. Benedict Oramah, outgoing President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Dr. George Elombi, the Bank’s incoming President and current Executive Vice President in charge of Governance, Legal and Corporate Services.

The top national awards, which were presented in Libreville, Gabon, on 15 September 2025, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a 300-MW EUR 200-million thermal power station financed by Afreximbank, sought to honour President Oramah and Executive Vice President Elombi for “their service to the Gabonese economy.”

According to the government of Gabon, the awards were in recognition of Afreximbank’s pivotal roles in the ongoing transformation of Gabon’s economy. Over the last decade, the Bank, in collaboration with Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP), have invested in the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that have become a catalyst for industrial transformation, job and wealth creation, and poverty reduction in the Central African country. The government also acknowledges the commitment of Afreximbank to supporting its economic transformation agenda, with commitment to invest US$5 billion towards domestic processing of manganese, modernisation of the railway network, strengthening of energy production and construction of three power plants in Libreville, Port-Gentil, and Lambaréné.

Accepting the awards, Prof. Oramah reaffirmed Afreximbank’s commitment to supporting economic and social transformation in Gabon through the implementation of the Bank’s mandate to facilitate and finance intra- and extra-African trade.

“Executive Vice President, Dr. George Elombi, and I are truly honored by this recognition. We sincerely appreciate and share the awards with our entire team at Afreximbank, whose hard work and determination continue to pave the way for Africa’s socio-economic transformation.”

President Oramah also acknowledged the Government of the Republic of Gabon, under the leadership of President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, for the bold and decisive development agenda that is geared towards restoring hope and prosperity to the people of Gabon. He added that “we thank the Gabonese government for associating Afreximbank with this ambitious economic transformation agenda.

President Oramah emphasized that Africa’s economic transformation must be achieved through ‘our own efforts rather than relying on external support’. “In that spirit, Afreximbank plans to establish a US$5 billion Country Programme to support the execution of strategic development projects that, we hope, will contribute to the transformation of the Gabonese economy,” added Prof. Oramah.

The groundbreaking ceremony followed a facility agreement signed between Afreximbank and the Government of Gabon in Abuja on 27 June, during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings, providing a EUR 200-million amortising term loan to support strategic investments in Gabon’s energy sector including construction of three thermal power plants, with a total generation capacity of 300 megawatts, to reduce power shortages in Gabon.

This was in addition to a memorandum of understanding between Afreximbank and Gabon for a US$3.8-billion project to boost trade and investment, create jobs and make the country a leading regional centre for industrialisation and the achievement of Intra-African Trade.