•Pix: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his German counterpart
By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
The President of Giessen Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Germany, Dr. Mathias Leder, has revealed that he is the country to help chart ways Nigeria can improve her export and change the trade imbalance existing between the two countries.
Leder, who made an allusion to the trade imbalance between Nigeria and Germany that tilts in favour of the latter, suggested improved labour productivity through skill training, innovation, cooperative economy, single digit interest credit facility and legal migration of labour as ways to Nigeria can scale up her international trade status with his country.
He made this known at the on – going 14th Gateway International Trade Fair within the Moshood Abiola Trade Fair Complex, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital which was declared open on Tuesday by Governor Dapo Abiodun, according to The Nation.
The Giessen President who also described the quality of trade between Germany and Africa as “very uneven,” said it was his dream to see the uneven trajectory give way to a positive trade, declaring international trade as a cornerstone of prosperity and development.
He urged government at all levels to keep creating more enabling environment for small and medium enterprises to sprout and thrive so as to scale up the Nigeria’s productivity level.
“The balance of trade in between Germany and Africa compared to Brazil and Republic of China is very uneven. Though, Germany does lot of trading with Brazil and China but its volume of international trade with Africa is 2% out of which Nigeria is less than 1% and my dream is to see that the trade between Germany and Africa grows. What can we do to change the situation?
“International trade has always been a cornerstone of prosperity and development and there are several reasons why we have the international trade. International trade arises because we don’t have some resources in the importing countries. For instance, we don’t have oil and gold in Germany. China’s investment in the last 20 years in Africa is much more than that of the Europe. They invested in infrastructure, rail, ports, telecommunications and so on.
“To change the narrative of the trade imbalance that Nigeria is having with Germany, you can improve the productivity of labour, you can improve the productivity of capital and innovation. We have thus project called dual vocation training which means to improve the factor labour. These people received excellent practical training, these people easily find jobs in Europe and in Germany because the training includes working in a company for three days and spending two days in a vocational training school. These people who participated in the dual training are better off in the company where they work because they get to see their clients hailing their works.
“So, the dual vocational training is one mean of improving productivity. Also legal migration can improve productivity of the country because these people who migrate to Germany get a training there and they get a monthly payment that is equivalent to N5m and it can even be double depending on the training and where you work, for instance if you work in the IT sector and this is our second project that we have carried out last week.
“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%. The leadership of the Oguncima has been trying to do something to strengthen the cooperative economy and cooperative banking in such a way that the interest rate for loans will not be more than 6% such that the small and medium business enterprises can afford.
“One other thing we are also providing is innovation and this we do by creating a platform for the companies to meet such is our international conference coming up from May 20 to 22 which provides the opportunity for the companies across globe to come together and access innovation that could help lift up their companies,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Governor Dapo Abiodun who was represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Bolu Owotomo, said his administration would continue to create enabling environment to sustain the state’s status as investors first destination choice and nation’s number one industrial hub.
He identified infrastructural development and ease of doing business in the state as some of the factors that put Ogun ahead of others as investors haven, pledging to support businesses to thrive in the state.
Fielding fielding questions from reporters, one of the guests at the occasion and former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaja Lai Mohammed, said the federal government was on the right path in her efforts to enhance export value of Nigerian products.
He urged entrepreneurs, especially the small and medium business operators to consider cooperative economy as a way addressing the double digit interest rate of lending financial institutions in the country.
He said, “The federal government is on the right path. We should refrain from exporting our raw materials, we must add values to our raw materials and then we shall be able to have good export markets. We must take the advantage of the regulatory bodies to meet up with the standard.
“Luckily, Afrexim Bank has set up a place here in Ogun State where you can go and check the standard of your products to know if they are fit for export. Rather than exporting our cocoa, our gold, we need to set up factories that can help processing to give them more value before they are exported.
“Talking about the high interest rates, the way out is cooperative banking, it is like the esusu system that our forefathers used to make use in the past. In this kind of arrangement about 20 to 40 people who belong to same industry can come together and begin to make contributions which one of them take by month end until it goes round and the interest rate is not more than 6%, the cooperative banking is the way to go.”
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–Additional report: The Nation
