Nigeria wants £4.2bn trade with Britain increased

MINISTER of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has advised investors from the United Kingdom to take advantage of the improved business environment in Nigeria to invest in key sectors of the economy.

This will then significantly improve upon the annual bilateral trade worth £4.2bn.

Adeosun gave the advice at a meeting with members of the business delegation of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May who visited Nigeria on Wednesday.

The Minister stated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had taken a bold step in creating an enabling business environment for attracting investments, through the establishment of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

She expressed the commitment of the Government to further improve on the business environment and sustain existing reforms to consolidate the gains of the economy through the deepening of the subnational Ease of Doing Business project.

“There are lots of business opportunities in Nigeria and the Government is addressing assiduously the impediments to ease of doing business in Nigeria.

“This will make it easier for businesses to grow and contribute to sustainable economic activity in the country as well as create jobs,” Adeosun said.

The Minister also canvassed the need for the deepening of the Nigerian capital market with specific products that can be channelled towards infrastructure financing.

This, according to her, will ensure the capital market plays a pivotal role in stimulating the economy.

She added, “We can’t have enough capital to finance infrastructure development.

“Deepening the capital market is key to the funding of infrastructure in Nigeria.”

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Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who commended the support provided by the Department for International Development (DFID) and UKAID, called for more business partnerships between Nigeria and Britain.

The British Minister for Africa, Harriet Baldwin, lauded the trade relations between Britain and Nigeria, adding that more business partnerships would be announced by the visiting Prime Minister.

“We are already partnering with Nigeria in the area of green financing”, Baldwin stated.

According to a statement, during the visit on Wednesday, the two countries signed partnership agreement expected to create over 100,000 jobs in Nigeria.