The Nigerian High Commissioner to the Commonwealth of Australia, Amb-assador Anderson Madubike, has said Nigeria will not only partner with Australia in the area of economic development, but also in peacekeeping operations, world peace and other areas.

CEOAFRICA gathered that the immediate past Consul-General of Nigeria in Shanghai, China, also said issues such as insecurity were common in every country, and “there is no need to over-emphasized our own challenges.”

Madubike, however, said, if necessary, Australia could help in combating security challenges through support in arms supply or training to maintain peace in Nigeria.

“I was the fourth Consul-General of Nigeria in Shanghai, China. Shanghai is one of the strategic cities in China. I was there from August 2017 to May 2021. During my tenure, it is on record that I was the first Nigerian Consul-General to organise a trade delegation from Nigeria to Shanghai and other Chinese cities and investment conferences on two occasions in Shanghai. The essence of the trade delegations and conferences was that, when I arrived in China, I realized that there were many business opportunities and many business people and organisations in Nigeria were oblivious of the opportunities and how to tap into them. Therefore, we organized these programmes and invited many investors and other relevant Nigerian organisations to participate. The conferences, therefore, created linkages between Nigerian and Chinese businesses and unlocked many other opportunities to Nigerian and Chinese citizens.” He stated

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Speaking on how best Nigeria can deepen trade relations with China, he stressed that learning is a continuous process.

“I am also advising my colleague, the current Consul-General in Shanghai, to consolidate on what we did during my tenure. All these trade delegations and investment conferences are very important keys to unlocking many opportunities. They should organise these conferences from one state to the other and, from there, more enlightenment would be generated about the opportunities in China and create exposure for the Nigerian market and its capabilities. Unfortunately, because of COVID-19, most of these have not been taking place. But as soon as these issues are resolved, that is the way to go to create awareness for the good of both countries. As you may be aware, at the mission in Shanghai, there is a booklet on Nigeria’s investment opportunities, but the trade delegations and conferences will promote these opportunities more.” Anderson said

In his remark, he added that the Federal Government has come out with a defined process for the diversification of the Nigerian economy away from oil, noting that all these efforts need to be sustained to ensure that Nigeria’s industrialization pathway is maintained.

“As ambassadors, part of our mandate is to lead and preach towards the diversification of Nigeria’s economy through investments in other areas. We can tailor our conferences or advertisements to other opportunities in the Nigerian economy rather that oil, especially in agriculture and solid minerals. This is because having all your eggs in one basket does not help the country. Government is giving a lot of incentives and tax breaks to companies who are investing in other sectors of the economy. These are conscious efforts to wean the economy away from oil. You should be aware that Nigeria has a lot of material resources and we need to increase our efforts to these other sectors for the good of the country,” he submitted.