Issues
Boosting US-Nigeria Trade Relations
Observers say that Nigeria-United States bilateral relations have come a long way and some of them note that the relations witnessed a dramatic boost in 1999 with the restoration of Nigeria’s democracy.
Economists note that Nigeria’s main export to the U.S. is crude oil, while its imports from the U.S. include machineries and engineering equipment.
In 2008, for example, Nigeria, which currently stands as the 14th largest trading partner of the U.S., had a volume of trade valued at $42.2 billion (about N6.3 trillion) with the U.S.
Statistics showed that Nigerian goods exported to the U.S. that year amounted to $4.1 billion (about N615 billion), while imports from the U.S. totalled $38.1 billion (about N5.7 trillion).
The goods imported from the U.S. in 2008 include vehicles — $974 million (about N146 billion), wheat — $930 million (about N139.5 billion), mineral fuel (oil) — $416 million (about N62.4 billion) and electrical equipment — $202 million (about N30.3 billion).
Nigerian exports to the U.S. in 2008 totalled $38.1 billion (about N5.7 trillion), reflecting a 16.2 per cent increase of $5.3 billion (about N795 billion) over the 2007 figure.
However, economists note that Nigeria’s export to the U.S. is predominantly crude oil, as its non-oil exports are somewhat insignificant.
As part of efforts to address this mono-product export and exploit fully other areas of the existing bilateral trade relations, the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) was signed between Nigeria and the U.S. in 2000.
The agreement is part of a comprehensive U.S. strategy to support the Federal Government’s efforts to advance trade and economic development in Nigeria.
In March 2009, at the 6th TIFA meeting in Washington, both countries agreed to hold an investment forum in the U.S.
The major objective of the forum is to create a platform for American and Nigerian entrepreneurs to interact and strike profitable business deals.
It is also designed to provide a platform for the presentation of existing investment opportunities in Nigeria to U.S. corporate leaders and senior policy makers for consideration.
The forum tagged: “1st U.S.A-Nigeria Business Forum’’, was organised between April 12 and 20 in three U.S. cities – Atlanta, Houston and Chicago — by the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Trade and the U.S Embassy in Nigeria.
The forum was organised to fast-track action in efforts to enhance trade and investment relations between Nigeria and the U.S.
Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye, the minister of commerce and industry, who led the Nigerian delegation to the forum, urged Nigerian and American businessmen to take advantage of the abundant investment opportunities existing in Nigeria.
Martins-Kuye pledged the Federal Government’s determination to improve the business environment and investment climate of Nigeria.
He said that the government had initiated some reforms in various sectors of the economy, particularly the power sector, to make the business environment more conducive to investors.
“The various economic reforms initiated by the Federal Government, the anti-graft measures, transparency and the rule of law in place are meant to facilitate trade,’’ he said.
The minister expressed the hope that the business forum would engender a quantum leap in trade and investments between the two countries.
“The Federal Government believes that the forum will boost U.S. investments in Nigeria and stimulate value-added non-oil exports from Nigeria,’’ he said.
Martins-Kuye said that investments in the non-oil sector, especially through the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which Nigeria had not fully taken advantage of since 2000 when it came into force, were imperative.
“It is very unfortunate that some countries with less potential are taking advantage of AGOA and Nigeria is still seriously lagging behind,’’ he lamented.
Observers, nonetheless, express the happiness that the forum was able to X-ray and market the investment opportunities existing in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
The sectors presented to the U.S. market include tourism/hospitality, power/energy, solid minerals/mining, ICT/telecommunications, aviation/transport, SME Development, banking and finance.
Others are infrastructure/construction, agriculture/agri-business, health/pharmaceuticals, oil/gas, marine/port development, environment and insurance.
The forum also gave some public agencies such as the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) the chance to make presentations on existing investment opportunities.
NAFDAC, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and the Raw Materials and Development Research Council (RMRDC), among others, also made presentations.
NEPZA’s Managing Director, Mr Sina Agboluaje, invited the U.S. business community to invest in the 25 free trade zones in Nigeria, assuring them that they would have the opportunity to repatriate their profits.
“The law governing the free trade zones in Nigeria allows investors to repatriate their profits, dividends and capital appreciation across the border,’’ he said.
Agboluaje cited the benefits of investing in free trade zones as the reduction of initial capital outlay since infrastructural facilities like power, water and telecommunications were already in place in the zones.
He said that the fiscal incentives’ regime in the free trade zones also enabled approved enterprises to produce cheaply with duty deferral on articles of trade.
“Our clarion call is for American investors to invest in the free zones in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian government is making efforts in several directions to improve the trade environment in Nigeria, with the free zones functioning as centres of excellence for doing business,’’ he said.
Agboluaje pledged that investors would be given the freedom to sell any proportion of their products in Nigeria even when the items were prohibited.
“They will be allowed for sale in Nigeria once it has up to 35 per cent value addition,’’ he said
However, the NEPC Chief Executive, Mr David Adulugba, decried Nigeria’s low non-oil exports to the U.S., which were estimated at $1.8 billion (about N 270 billion) in 2008.
He bemoaned the neglect of the non-oil sector, which, he recalled, made 97.4 per cent contribution to the national economy in 1960, adding that the sector contributed as low as five per cent to the economy in 2008.
Adulugba said that Nigeria, blessed with rich natural resources, ought to use its natural endowment through exports to create employment.
“It is time for us to use our natural endowment to create wealth and employment,’’ he said.
Adulugba, however, noted that the greatest problem confronting non-oil exports was that of products’ packaging, since most products, regardless of how good they were, lacked proper presentation.
“A product must be able to sell itself on the shelf through proper packaging,’’ he said.
The NEPC chief said that virtually all the 36 states of the country were blessed with one commodity and solid mineral deposit or the other.
“All of these resources are lying fallow, begging for exploitation by investors,’’ he said.
Adulugba argued that Nigeria had the finest varieties of coffee and tea in the world, adding that the two crops were grown in commercial quantities on the Mambilla Plateau in Adamawa.
He stressed that Nigeria had enormous investment opportunities in agro-allied industry, textiles, forest-based industry, leather, stone and mineral-based industries.
One of the major constraints of exports to the U.S. has been identified as the lack of access to cheap finance for exporters.
“The constraints to Nigerian exporters include limited access to credit, infrastructure deficiencies, weak access to primary products, among others,’’ he said.
A representative of the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Mrs Saratu Umar, called on Nigerian investors to avail themselves of the export finance opportunities offered by the bank.
She said that NEXIM was set up to provide credit risk to exporters through lending to exporters in local and foreign currencies.
Umar said that exporters were also being assisted with NEXIM’s facilities to stock their commodities when they were off-season, so as to enable them sell the goods during favourable seasons.
She said that Nigeria, being one of the notable importers of U.S. goods, should be able to do business with U.S. importers if good financial assistance outlets were available.
For Nigeria’s Ambassador to the U.S., Prof. Ade Adefuye, the forum would afford American entrepreneurs the opportunity to understand the major economic reforms initiated by the Federal Government.
The ambassador, who was represented by Miss Lara Butto, an official of the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, stressed that the reforms were hinged on the government’s determination to create a market-driven economy.
“For those of you who know little about Nigeria’s economy, I am very optimistic that at the end of this forum, you will be able to understand our economic terrain.
“You will also be able to appreciate our abundant human and natural resources, while resolving to partner with us in harnessing these resources.
“Indeed, it has been proven that whichever form of investment is made in Nigeria, the returns have been very profitable,’’ Adefuye said.
The general viewpoint on the U.S. side, however, was that apart from the forum, there has been scanty publicity on Nigerian investment opportunities.
To be continued
Yussuf writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Grace Yussuf
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
