Nigeria and India have agreed to strengthen economic connections in order to increase investments in the Nigerian economy and generate jobs for the country’s teeming youngsters
Both nations made the pledges yesterday during the Indian High Commission in Abuja’s observance of India’s 73rd Republic Day.
Mr. Emeka Offor, acting Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), said the NIPC is exploiting the strategic alliance between Nigeria and India to diversify the economy, generate more employment, and wealth during the occasion.
“India is of strategic significance to the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, and indeed to Nigeria, as a consequence of the socio-economic commonalities we have as countries,” he added.
“We went through a thorough process to pick 20 nations that we believe are strategically important to Nigeria’s economic growth, and India was one of those countries.”
“As a result, NIPC will now continue to expand connections with those nations, particularly India, in order to establish an investment promotion agreement with them, so that we can attract investors from India to Nigeria, and if Nigeria wants to invest in India, it should be free to do so.”
“That is why we want to strengthen that connection,” Offor continued, “but our major focus is on drawing investments from India to Nigeria in order to generate employment, wealth, and enhance the investment landscape in Nigeria.”
He also added that NIPC is talking with India on growing the ICT industry in light of Nigeria’s desire to diversify its economy and lessen its entire reliance on oil.
“ICT was one of the industries that fared quite well during the pandemic, and we see them as winners since a lot of things can be done using technology,” Offor added.
“As a result, we’re seeing a lot of traction in sectors like ICT, e-commerce, and health-tech, to name a few.”
Mr. Velagaleti Surendra, India’s acting High Commissioner to Nigeria, stated that Nigeria is India’s most important partner in Africa and that India is ready to assist Nigeria in strengthening its economy.
Surendra further stated that India was attempting to diversify its renewable energy investments and was looking into other sectors to diversify its investments in Nigeria.
The high commission also invited the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission and the private sector attend the event, citing the importance of these sectors in diversifying Nigeria’s economy.
“One potential area we see is renewable energy, since there is a lot of interest in solar energy in Nigeria; building up solar facilities, and even in agriculture.” He continued.