German envoy seeks trade balance between Nigeria, Germany

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CCI Giessen-Freidberg, Matthias Leder, has called on the federal government to improve the foreign trade balance between Nigeria and Germany. Mr Leder said this on Wednesday at the opening of the 14th Gateway International Trade Fair in Abeokuta, Ogun State. According to the envoy, the trade volume between both countries is still under one per cent.  The Gateway International Trade Fair, with the theme “Promoting Businesses Through Partnership,” was held between February 7 and February 10. Mr Leder stated that the balance of trade between Germany and Africa, particularly Nigeria, compared to Brazil and the Republic of China, was ‘very uneven.’ He further said that the volume of international trade with Africa was two per cent, out of which Nigeria was less than one per cent.
The envoy, who said that Germany trades more with Brazil and China, urged both countries to intensify efforts to improve the situation for the benefit of the two countries. He observed that international trade was a cornerstone of prosperity and development, hence Germany’s commitment to changing the narrative of the imbalance that Nigeria was having with it. Mr Leder added that China’s investment in the last 20 years in Africa was much more than that of Europe, as the country invested in infrastructure, rail, ports, telecommunications and others. He said that his country would work to bridge the gap in the balance of trade with Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world. He, however, identified low labour productivity, high capital interest, innovation and illegal immigration as some of the factors undermining international trade between Nigeria and Germany.
 He said, “To change the narrative of the trade imbalance that Nigeria is having with Germany, you can improve the productivity of labour and improve the productivity of capital and innovation.’’ Mr Leder cited a newly set-up project called dual vocation training, which, he said, was meant to improve the factor of labour. According to him, the dual vocational training was a means of improving productivity. “To improve the productivity of capital is important. It is also not easy for the small and medium businesses to get loans in this country because the interest rate is too high, about 20  per cent,” he said. He, however, said that the leadership of the OGUNCCIMA had been trying to do something to strengthen the cooperative economy and cooperative banking. Also speaking, a former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said Nigeria should refrain from exporting raw materials but add value to them to make them exportable to the international market.
 Mr Mohammed urged Nigeria to take advantage of the regulatory bodies to meet up with the international standard. “Rather than exporting our cocoa, our gold, we need to set up factories that can help in processing to give them more value before they are exported,” he said. On the issue of high interest rates, Mr Mohammed said that the way out was cooperative banking. “It is like the ‘esusu’ system that our forefathers used to make use of in the past,” the former minister said. President of the National Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dele Oye, said that the chamber was already partnering with Germany to import some machines for agro-processing.
 “Once you process your goods, the value you get is usually five times the one per cent you will have without processing,” he said. Mr Oye also stated that NACCIMA was working with the Germans to have skill centres in Nigeria where entrepreneurs could be trained to improve skills, productivity and transfer of technology. President of Odu’a Chamber of Commerce, Mine and Agriculture (ODUACIMA), Wasiu Olaleye, said that the international trade fair would provide an avenue to link medium- and small-scale entrepreneurs with the international market. Mr Olaleye said that the trade fair had attracted participants from the neighbouring countries, such as the Republic of Benin, Niger Republic and Rwanda in East Africa. NAN