Ajirioghene Imah
Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima has called for stronger business relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom (UK) as a result of the long standing business history business and shared interests between the two countries.
Shettima made the call during a courtesy visit to his office by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Vice President, who commended the long standing assistance and support of the UK government to Nigeria, expressed hope for a more robust business relations.
In his words “I will urge you to facilitate the setting up of the Nigeria-UK Binational Commission; that Bi-national Commission can be the driver for accelerating enhance business relationship between our two countries.”
“We need to ramp up the trade between our two nations taking into cognizance our proximity. There is no nation that we are close to than the UK and our trade represent less than five per cent of the volume of our import and export.”
“in 2012, we spent $10bn on fuel subsidy alone. Last month, we were purportedly consuming 67 million litres per day, but after the removal of the subsidy it drops to 41 million bpd, nearly 40% off. So the whole subsidy regime was opaque, ridden with a lot of inconsistency.”
He noted that the previous multiple exchange rate in the country brought about corruption, hence its collapse, adding that there will be more pronouncements on how to reposition the Nigerian economy and make it vibrant for business.
He added that as part of the efforts of the Tinubu led-administration towards addressing on-going security problems, the government will soon roll out different socio-economic intervention programmes and initiatives in the North East and North West that will facilitate empowerment and social inclusion of the vulnerable groups in the regions.
