The recent visit of both the British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, may have opened several new investment opportunities for Nigerian local businessmen, especially in the micro, small and medium scale segment.
Among the several benefits promised by the British government, in what has been described as a week of harvest for Nigeria, is the promise of partnership with Nigeria businessmen in a new investment portfolio worth £70 million, aimed at creating over 100,000 jobs in Nigeria, towards enhancing poverty alleviation.
Theresa May used the opportunity of the visit to announce a new paradigm shift in spending relationships with Africa, beginning with Nigeria – obviously the biggest economy in Africa, as Britain pursue Brexit next year.
The new policy will see to more long-term spending in the areas of economy and security to help the country tackle the intractable security challenges.
To seal the promises, Nigeria and Britain signed two memoranda of understanding in the areas of economy and security.
The agreement signing, which was part of the major highlights of the visit of the British Prime Minister, covers “Defence and Security Partnership and Economic Development Forum,” according to Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the minister of state, trade and investment, Aisha Abubakar.
According to Onyema, the security agreement, which is a comprehensive arrangement, covers training, policing and human rights aspect of security. The Economic Development Forum on the other hand aims at enhancing economic prosperity of the two countries.
He noted that the implementation would involve both private sector and government partnership.
Britain is also using the agreements to further consolidate as the country prepares for Brexit to enable it build economic relationships with her traditional partners.
The agreement is also expected to further boost the current administration’s Ease of Doing Business policy, while the Human Rights aspect will ensure that security forces are further trained to carry out their operations in line with internationally acceptable practice, he said.
He however stated that “no major policy shift” was envisaged, but assured that “there will be greater cooperation” as the British would no longer be constrained in dealing with her traditional partners.
Speaking on other benefits, the foreign affairs minister said the “agreement will require that ministers of both countries meet on regular basis to fine tune economic policies that will help to reduce poverty and create wealth.”
Human rights abuses remain a major concern among Nigeria’s political analysts, especially in the wake of recent pronouncements by President Muhammadu Buhari that subjects “ Rule of Law” to what he described as “ National security and economy.”
BusinessDay however gathers that part of the security agreement will include training the Nigerian military and security agencies on observance of Human Rights in all their operations in line with internationally acceptable standards.
Britain also used the opportunity of the visit to express support for Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business initiatives following the commitment of the Federal Government to further improve on the business environment and sustain existing reforms to consolidate the gains for a stronger economy.
Germany, on the other hand, also signed agreements with Nigeria in the areas of agriculture and commerce, as well as automobile and risks financing, as part of the gains of the weekend visit by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The first agreement was signed between the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and the German-Africa Business Association.
BusinessDay gathers while first deputy national president of NACCIMA, Saratu Iya Abubakar, signed on behalf of Nigeria, Stefan Liebing, of German Africa Business Association, signed on behalf of the German Business Delegation.
The second agreement was signed between the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), and the PETKUS Technologie GmbH, a company that specialises in post-harvest agricultural value chain.
While the managing director of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, signed on behalf of Nigeria, the representative of PETKUS Technologie GmbH, Peter Huser, signed for the Germans.
Speaking after signing the MoUs, Nigeria’s minister of industry, trade and investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said the agreements would increase the collaboration between Nigeria and Germany in the two areas.
Enelamah said the agreements would also leverage small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, saying, “We want our SMEs to learn from the German Experience and be as important. The other area of German excellence is the technical area; technical education, technical training and technical development. It is also an area of great interest to Nigeria.
“We are also working with Germany in the automobile sector because that’s also an area where Germany is a leader and Nigeria clearly has a policy to be a leader in the auto sector in West Africa and Africa.”
He said all these would require high levels of engagement, collaboration and communication to be actualised.
Also speaking, Abdulhameed said the MoU signed between NIRSAL and PETKUS was borne out of the realisation of
the opportunities that exist for investments in the Nigerian agricultural sector under the President Buhari administration.
He said: “Under the current administration and the present agricultural promotion policy of this government, there are ample opportunities for investors, in terms of technology and capital, to come to Nigeria and to invest in the agricultural sector.
“NIRSAL provides the risking environment and mechanisms to enable investors like PETKUS to come to Nigeria and do their business.”
According to Abdulhameed, the agreement would go a long way in reducing the 51.3 metric tons of aggregate food production, equivalent of about $9 billion, which the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, report says Nigeria loses annually.
He said PETKUS, which specialises in the post harvest segment of the agricultural value chain, would bring its expertise to bear on post harvest productions in Nigeria.
In his remarks, Huser said the interest of his company was to help small farmers boost their yield.
“We are not talking about big investments; we are talking about small holder farmers, where we like to help them to boost their yield, to get better yield; we are talking about plant production, we are talking about fertilisation.”
He said each machine supplied by PETKUS Technologie would provide employment and improve income for five persons and their families.
“We are talking today not about one machine; we are talking about one thousand machines and you can imagine the value this can bring into the agricultural sector,” Huser said.
He said the agreement was a step further in the interest of his company in Nigeria.
