British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, announced on Sunday that trade relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom have reached £7 billion.
During an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Montgomery revealed that the two countries have entered into a new agreement to enhance trade and investment partnerships.
This agreement is designed to foster increased cooperation in critical sectors such as agriculture, creative industries, legal services, financial services, and education.
Currently, the UK exports about £4 billion worth of goods and services to Nigeria, with Nigerian exports to the UK amounting to roughly £3 billion.
The British envoy expressed that this new agreement is expected to boost trade volumes and strengthen economic ties between the two nations.
“Trading by both countries is relatively balanced because the UK exports about £4bn worth of goods and services to Nigeria while Nigeria exports to the UK about £3bn worth of goods,” he said.
“We need to do more because if you look at last year’s figure compared to the penultimate, there was not much of an increase in trade volume. It was an increase of about two per cent.
“So trade in the last few years has changed. And the aim of our enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership is to boost trade and investment between both countries and also to raise these numbers,” he explained.
According to Montgomery, Nigeria stands to gain from a new post-Brexit trading agreement that the UK has implemented, known as the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).
He pointed out that the DCTS is among the most generous trading schemes globally, eliminating tariffs on thousands of products to promote free trade.
The envoy also mentioned that Nigeria has the potential to export at least 3,000 tariff-free products to the UK, including agricultural exports like cashew, cotton, and cocoa from the middle belt.
He stated, “There are lots of commercial farmers involved in vegetables, which can be processed, and there is also timber. And we think that there’s a big potential for commercial agriculture in the future in Nigeria.
“You have the land, you have the people. The new trading scheme should be an opportunity for Nigeria. We can do more in financial and legal services.”
Montgomery revealed that new technologies are entering the financial services sector which will greatly improve the sector.
Moreover, he expressed confidence that trade between the UK and Nigeria will expand, attributing this to the bold reforms undertaken by Nigeria.
Montgomery commended the Nigerian government for eliminating the “crippling fuel subsidy,” addressing oil theft, and implementing foreign exchange reforms.
He observed that the former foreign exchange system had discouraged investors because of the challenges associated with accessing and transferring funds internationally.