The recent three-day state visit to France by President Muhammadu Buhari pushes his economic diplomacy drive a notch further, writes SAM NWOKORO.
President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, made his third state visit outside Africa to France on the invitation of President Francois Hollande. He was well received at Elysee Palace, the seat of power in France. The president made the trip with a little entourage that comprised few top officials of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Economy, Trade and Investment representing government. Some private sector captains that included chairman of Hair Holdings Limited, Tony Elumelu; President of Dantata Group, Alhaji Dantata, were in the modest entourage.
Coming at a time the president is about to go public with his list of ministers as people anxiously wait, the president’s trip could be interpreted as a familiarisation and an attempt to have a first-hand debriefing of the state of economic relations and other issues in Nigeria-French bilateral relations.
During the visit, the president addressed investors in France and assured them of providing conducive business environment for them to operate. He said this informed why he began tackling the issues of insecurity as soon as he was sworn in. Buhari recalled that the economic ties between France and Nigeria dates back to 1902 when the French conglomerate, CFAO, set up a training school in Lagos, and stressed the need for the relation between both countries wax stronger.
The president said: “My administration would rebuild Nigeria into a virile, competitive and productive economy based on excellence, integrity, transparency, accountability and respect for the rule of law.
“It is a positive development that today Nigeria is the largest trading partner of France in Africa. But opportunities abound to increase the current $5 billion yearly trading volume. I fully agreed with President Hollande when he declared in 2014 in Abuja that trade between both countries should double in the next four years.”
Issues
Another issue the president talked about before Nigerians in France was Boko Haram. Expectedly, the President told Nigerians in the Diaspora that he is not taking the issue of security lightly. In fact, the president stunned home audience when he disclosed, for the first time, that his government has actually commenced negotiation with the sect. He said the negotiation became necessary in order to secure the freedom of the more than 200 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State.
“They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in the churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places,” he said.
Buhari and Hollande later addressed the press where they renewed commitments to further strengthen relations.
French in Nigeria
France is very active in Nigeria’s economy, and is about one of the earliest western nations to set up conglomerates in Nigeria, dating back to 1902. The CFAO, which was a commodity trading company – later auto merchandising outfit and shopping mall, remained the flagship of French business footprint in Nigeria. Other French entities like Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) came in as a result of the successful business operations of CFAO which at a time, shortly after Independence, was a household name. The Kingsway Stores in Marina, Lagos; the Chanrai sales division and the likes were all under CFAO portfolio. The French currently are actively involved in Nigeria’s economy in the area of oil and gas, telecommunications, agriculture, automobile, and machinery.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance and Agence France Development (AFD) also signed an agreement on power financing worth $170 million during the launching of Nigeria-France Trade and Investment Council launched in March shortly after the Nigerian centenary celebrations. During the launch of the council last year, both countries pledged to double existing trade flows from then N1.04 trillion to about N2.09 trillion billion in four years.
“Nigeria has come of age economically, and this is the time to invest. We have made significant progress in our political, social and economic development, which is why we have invited all of you (the investors – both Nigerian industry captains and French businessmen) here,” said Nigeria’s then president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The trade council is expected to increase the flow of investment between Nigeria and France by 50 per cent in four years under the chairmanship of the Chief Executive Officer of Leadway Assurance and Vice Chairman of Nigeria-French Chamber of Commerce, Hassan Odukale; and CEO/Chairman of PAI Nigeria Limited, Lionel Zinsou.
During the signing of the Trade and Investment Council, Hollande also said: “We have set a goal of increasing our market share in Nigeria.”
He added that 15,000 Nigerians are employed in French companies. “We must step up our efforts in the area of training by our companies for Nigerian employees and increase investment because Nigeria is a great country.”
According to French Chamber of Commerce, known as Chamber de Commerce International (CCI), “Nigeria presently places second among France commercial partners in sub-Saharan Africa and still maintains second-placed among France suppliers in the sub-region. At the world level in 2002, Nigeria stood as France’s 45th customer and 38th supplier. There are over a hundred French establishments in Nigeria (subsidiaries, branches and joint ventures). There are about 1,600 French nationals in the country (Nigeria), 50 per cent of them are in the economic capital of the country, Lagos, 30 per cent in the oil-producing region of South South (Port Harcourt and Bonny) and 10 per cent in the political capital, Abuja. The remaining 10 per cent are scattered over the territory.”
The French ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. De Labroille, disclosed recently in July 16, 2015 Nigeria-French trade has hit $7.3 billion. He said this is more than the Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) of 20 African nations combined, and that the figure represents more than what France generated from all the French-speaking countries in West Africa.
“We, French, certainly believe that Nigeria is a country of extraordinary potential. It is already and by far our first partner in Africa, south of the Sahara. We believe in Nigeria’s potential and we believe in the future of this nation. This country can be and should be in much higher ranking in various international indexes of good governance of doing business and transparency,” the envoy said.
Shared interests
Nigeria and France are plagued by terrorism, though that of France is less rampant and quite different from the Boko Haram scourge Nigeria is currently contending with. Earlier in the year, the tranquillity of France was shattered when famous cartoonist, Charlie Hebdo, was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists. The world was outraged and France woke from what appeared a lull in her affront against terrorism, being one of the countries after Washington to advance military assistance to Nigeria’s counter offensives against insurgents in the North East. France supplied sophisticated intelligence equipment to aid Nigeria’s efforts and contributed towards the rehabilitation of internally-displaced persons (IDPs) in the North East.
France is deeply involved in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, being one of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s joint venture operators in the exploration and production of crude oil.
Many bilateral agreements exist between Nigeria and France. The former would need more of the latter’s technology, as government plans to erect dozens of modular refineries to tackle shortage of petroleum products in the country.
Recently, the government gave licences to about a dozen local entrepreneurs in the first phase of her efforts to refine crude locally using small 10,000 barrel per day refinery capacities. This is to address possible collapse of petrol supply in the economy arising from the reported shortage of fund to tackle big refinery plant contracts already awarded by the Jonathan administration. Here, French expertise in precision engineering comes handy.
