Boosting US-Nigeria Trade Relations

It is pertinent to note that many entrepreneurs, including members of the Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce in Houston and the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, attended the forum.

Besides, officials of the U.S. Trade Department, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), among others, also participated in the forum.

Mr Kenny Efunpo, a Nigerian and a board member of Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce, said that Nigerians in Houston should be encouraged to invest in Nigeria. He put their remittances in 2009 at about four million U.S. dollars (about N600 million).

Efunpo, who was the first African President of the African-American Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2005, said that some 250,000 Nigerians were living in Houston, adding that 25 per cent of the people were professionals.

Efunpo, who is into oil and gas, said that the remittance figure was extracted from a Western Union’s report.

“You will agree with me that it is a lot of revenue for Nigeria,’’ he said.

He said that in the past, the 75-year-old Chamber had been trying to organise a trade mission to Nigeria to explore the investment opportunities in the country.

“It is very good that Nigeria has taken the initiative to come and see how we can improve the economic, industrial and political situation in the country.

“But the programme was not much publicised in the U.S., especially in Houston. If it was well publicised, more business people would have attended,’’ he said.

Efunpo said that in the next two months, the chamber would be leading a delegation of investors to Nigeria to explore investment opportunities in the construction, housing and real estate sectors.

He noted that the discussions between Nigerian and American businessmen at the forum were “meaningful’’, adding that the forum would foster improved trade and investment relations between the two countries. 

However, some of the forum’s participants attributed the low level of U.S. investments in Nigeria to the bad external image of Nigeria, promoted by the foreign press.

They, therefore, called on the Federal Government to embark on an aggressive image-laundering activity to change the erroneous public perception of Nigeria in the U.S.

For Mr Ademola Dada, the President of the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce in Illinois, U.S., the forum would help to counter the negative perception of Nigeria created by the foreign media.

“We have to promote many face-to-face meetings like this continually since we cannot influence bad press about Nigeria,’’ he said.

Dr Wale Ajifolokun, Managing Director of Air Cargo and Travel Agency in Chicago, said that Nigeria should strive to “boost its own ego and write its own story its own way.

“If you wait for people to write it for you, they will do that from their own perspectives, which may be wrong,’’ he said.

Ajifolokun said that apart from the challenges of inadequate power supply, bad transportation and insecurity, Nigeria’s bad image had been scaring away potential investors from the country.

Dr Adetunji Oyedele, an exporter, particularly called on the government to address the problems of insecurity and kidnapping in the country.

“The Ministry of Information needs to constantly sell the country to the outside world; a country needs to be sold to the whole world.

“Ironically, the only time they get to know about Nigeria is only when something bad has happened,’’ he said.

For Chief David Olupitan, an international business consultant and co-founder of the 35-year-old Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce, the organisation of such a forum was long overdue.

“It will go a long way in addressing some wrong perceptions about Nigeria,’’ he said.

Olupitan, therefore, called on Nigerian entrepreneurs to promote their products in the U.S. through direct adverts or via such forum.

“Nobody can speak well of you than yourself; we need to start talking and shouting about ourselves and what we are doing,’’ he said.

The U.S. policy makers, however, made some pledges which reflect the prospects of increasing trade and investment with Nigeria.

Ms Julie Carducci, the Deputy Director, U.S. Department of Commerce, said that the department would intensify efforts to assist U.S. companies in finding new markets in Nigeria.

She said that the department supported U.S. companies’ exports to Nigeria, while matchmaking the companies with their Nigerian counterparts.

She, therefore, urged Nigerian companies to work with their U.S. counterparts in efforts to export goods with the required American qualities to the U.S.

Carducci urged Nigerian companies to participate in the trade shows organised in the U.S. to further strengthen their investment opportunities.

The trade shows will take place in Houston, La Vegas, Dallas and New Orleans in August.

“We have in the past supported trade missions to Nigeria. We hope to organise more of such missions to further explore the investment opportunities in the country,’’ she said.

Mary Roberts, the Deputy Director, Office of Trade and Investments in Chicago, welcomed the Nigerian delegation to Chicago, saying: “It is the largest city and centre of commerce for the entire world.

Roberts said that Illinois ranked 5th among the U.S. states concerning exports to Africa, while Nigeria ranked 4th among African countries getting Illinois exports.

Dr Cynthia Fontenet, an American businesswoman, said that the forum was timely, as both countries had a lot to benefit from each other.

She said that the U.S., with its high technology and industrial capacity, could benefit immensely from Nigeria with its enormous human and natural resources.

“This is bridging the gap and this connection with each other in commerce and industry is definitely the key to success,’’ she said.

The U.S.-Nigeria Forum is the outcome of the Trade and Investment Agreement (TIFA), whose objective also include providing a platform for deliberating on how trade opportunities can be explored, while a balance of trade is achieved.

Gov Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Emem Wills, said that the government had done a lot in making the state an investors’ haven.

“In the last three years, the state has concentrated on the development of state’s infrastructure, We constructed roads, our Independent Power Supply Project has been completed, we are liaising with the PHCN for distribution,’’ Akpabio said.

The high point of the forum was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between the Federal Government and the International Trade Centre, Houston, and the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce, Chicago.  

One of the objectives of the agreement is to improve trade between Nigeria and the U.S., while enhancing value added oil and non-oil exports from Nigeria to the U.S.

The organisations will collaborate with Nigeria in promoting exportable products from Nigeria, under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Nigeria from the U.S.  

All the same, industry operators have consistently harped on the need to improve the country’s infrastructure, especially power, so as to create conducive environment for investors.

However, Mr David Adejuwon, the Acting Director of Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, emphasised that potential investors should not wait for everything to be put in place before deciding to invest.

“If you have to wait for all challenges to go away, the investment space may not be available again,’’ he said.

Grace Yussuf