Nigeria and the Latest MOUs with Nations: UK, Germany and China

Thursday, September 06, 2018 6.45PM/ Proshare WebTV

As part of activities to boost its traderelations with strategic economies in the globe, Nigeria has this year goneinto a new level of bi-lateral relations that covers key areas like security,trade and the economy.

Bi-lateral relations are generallydriven for economic purposes and must be seen to be mutually beneficial to thetwo (2) countries involved.

To further strengthen Bi-lateralrelations, nations go into a memorandum of understanding signed to affirm anagreement or partnership, that is geared towards advancing their interests.

It is on this basis that we explore therecent high-level discussions and MOUs Nigeria has signed with the UnitedKingdom, Germany and China.

Nigeria-UK MOUs

British Prime Minister Theresa Mayrecently visited Nigeria, where she met with President Muhammadu Buhari andsigned MOUs covering trade and security.

Nigeria and Britain have had along-standing economic relations that spans decades, and in the wake of theBrexit plans of the UK to exit the European economic zone it was important toreinforce the bi-lateral relations.

President Muhammadu Buhari and PrimeMinister Theresa May witnessed the signing of the Defence and Securitypartnership by Mr Babagana Moguno(National Security Adviser, Nigeria) and MrChristian Turner (Deputy National Security Adviser, United Kingdom).

This new level of agreement comes at acritical time Nigeria seeks to fortify its security operations, tacklinginsurgency in the North-East, and other forms of related traits of terrorismconcerns like Banditry(North-West) and recurring cases of wide-spread killingsin the North-Central and other regions of the country.

The agreement will provide an opportunityfor the Nigerian Military to access equipment and effective training to carryout their security operations.

It is also noteworthy that the PrimeMinister of United Kingdom visited the FMDQ securities Nigeria’s foremost debtcapital, foreign exchange and derivations over-the-counter securities exchange inLagos.

At the FMDQ she interacted with notablebusiness leaders like Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr Tony.O. Elumelu, Mr FemiOtedola, amongst others to discuss cross-border opportunities in finance,fintech and infrastructure.

This brought a lot of possibilities ofstrengthening partnerships between London the Global financialmarket capital and Lagos West Africa’s economic capital.

The UK and Nigeria signed an MOU through aUK-Africa Fintech partnership of 2million pounds which will support Nigerianinnovators and tech players.

Also, the UK and Nigeria signed an MOU valued at750m pounds that will provide financing for Nigerian buying British products ,through the UK Export Finance platform.

It also featured the launch of a 12-monthskill-sharing program between lawyers from UK and Nigeria , designed to buildcapacity for the Nigerian legal industry.

A major takeaway is that Nigeria stands togain a lot from UK investments, that can transform its budding Fintechecosystem and in the larger scale; the digital economy.

Nigeria-Germany MOUs

German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her recentvisit to Nigeria, met with President Muhammadu Buhari and in the course of thevisit some strategic agreements were signed covering agriculture and commerce.

Germany Europe’s economic powerhouse and globalindustrial giant provides a unique opportunity for Nigeria to scale itsManufacturing and Agriculture sectors which in the last released Q2,2018 GDPreport recorded slow growth.

The first MOU signed was between the NigerianAssociation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMAand the German-African Business Association.

Second MOU was between the Nigerian Incentive BasedRisk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending and Petkus GmbH, a company thatspecialises in post-harvest agricultural value chain.

An interesting part of the Nigeria-German engagementwas the signing of an agreement that will see the development of the VolkswagenVehicle Service network in the country.

This is expected to transform the automotiveindustry, create jobs and achieve socio-economic inclusion.

From the agreements with Germany, Nigeria seeks todrive robust enterprise development, its Agric value chain and Manufacturingsector.

Nigeria-China MOUs

President Muhammadu Buhari this week led ahigh-powered delegation of cabinet ministers and senior government officials toChina Asia’s economic force, to attend the just concluded 7^th Forumfor Africa and China Cooperation Summit, FOCAC and also hold key bi-lateralmeetings with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping.

Nigeria signed several key agreements with theOriental giant that covered ICT, Infrastructure, Industrialization, Energy amongst others.

The first major MOU signed with China was the “One Belt One Road” initiative which is geared towards connecting 65countries globally, through infrastructure with participation of more than 70countries from Asia, Africa and Europe.

It is expected to boost the existing infrastructureagreements between both countries and spur economic development in Nigeria.

A second agreement signed between Nigeria and Chinawas the $328m concession funding for the Nigerian Infrastructure andCommunication Technology Backbone between Galaxy technologies(Nigeria) andHuawei Technologies(China).

The MOU for the NICTIB Phase II will boostNigeria’s ICT infrastructure which will deepen the digital economic system.

Third key MOU signed was the understanding thatwill attract a $200m investments from Ruyi Group, that will revitalize thespecial economic zones in the country, focused on textile manufacturing andagriculture.

In the energy space the Nigeria National PetroleumCorporation, NNPC signed an agreement with a Chinese Consortia to buildbiofuels complexes across the country.

A major takeaway from the Nigeria-China bi-lateralrelations is the expected intervention from a Chinese Consortium that isexpected to construct the historic 3,050mw Mambilla Hydro-electric Power Plant.

The project is expected to commence from 2019 andshould boost the Nigerian power infrastructure, when completed.