At ComeToNigeria, we have decided to shift the focus of the magazine more towards bilateral-Trade and of course, the Investment, and Tourism coverage will continue because tourism is after a set of trade. Why will people want to come to Nigeria? It is because of commerce as well. We have to create a new trade route that will enable our commodities to reach the buyers with ease. That is why in this current edition, we have covered a concept created and developed by GRC MOTORSPORT LIMITED, The Next Generation of Growth that is predominantly on trade. This concept will transform Nigeria to be one of the leading countries in the global business, achieving her economic miracle and becoming the emerging Economic cornerstone of the World.
From ComeToNigeria research, we discovered that Nigeria is currently on a rent economy as we solely depended on Oil. It is important for Nigeria to rededicate the nation’s resources at and embark solidly on international trade.
Trade is essential, and tourism is now seen as commodity export because we have asked several people in the past why Nigeria is not on the tourism belt? And the answer is simple. We are not doing enough trading like other countries. Since the beginning of this year, the Federal Government of Nigeria had commenced the implementation of the 2017 Revised Import2 and Export3 guidelines. The application of the guidelines is in line with the government’s efforts to improve international trade while enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
The World Bank’s 2018 report on where it is easier to do business around the world, placed Nigeria at 145th of 197 countries assessed. Although still on the low end, the ranking still shows a considerable advancement from the country’s preceding position of 169th in the 2017 report.
For Nigeria to make the top 25 exporting countries, we must further develop new trade and trade routes.
But one thing is, the trading opportunity in Nigeria is enormous. We have waited for too long to revive the diversification of the economy. Because the oil boom is no longer there, so everything now has to go back to commodity trading that Nigeria was known for in the past; the cotton pyramid, the groundnut pyramid, the cocoa, palm oil, rubber, and the leather industry as well as others like sorghum and cashew, etc. We must now be going back into all these areas of diversification promoting more ‘Made in Nigeria’ whereby the economy will pick up, and there will be more people coming to the country. Nigeria economy will change when we refocus more on proper international trade as Investments only flourish when there is a trade.
Trade relations between Nigeria and Netherlands have been increasing in recent years. Holland surprisingly became Nigeria’s leading export partner in the first quarter of 2018 with 20.5% of her total exports valued at N963.5 billion.
Nigeria’s international trade centered around the oil and natural gas sectors. In 2005, of Nigeria economic reforms, the government, changed its export profile beyond the oil sector, adding minerals, agricultural products, and now tourism.
Before oil production, which surged after the 1970s, agricultural production was the largest export sector for Nigeria. After the country became a mostly oil-intensive economy, the agriculture sector took a back seat. However, it still employs almost 70% of the total working population.
Nigeria’s trade surplus widened to NGN 837.1 billion in March of 2018 from NGN 114.1 billion in 2017. Exports rose 54.5 percent year-on-year to NGB 1441.8 billion, because of higher sales of crude oil (57.3 percent); raw material (105.6 percent) and mineral goods (519.4 percent). Only God knows what Nigeria will become if we can focus more on commodity trading.
To achieve a new era of commodity trading, therefore, the Federal Government of Nigeria must collaborate with the Industry, Trade and Investment Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Export and Import Bank so that we can achieve immensely development of export trade in the country.
Many people love the thrill of going to countries where they have to go outside their comfort zone to get by, where there is a language barrier, where they point to something on a menu and have no idea what would be, prepared for them. They love to experience different cultures, music, nature, languages, transport, lifestyles, etc. That surely why the famous quote: The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.
Those who travel usually have the best time of their life meeting like-minded travellers and expanding their minds while experiencing different ways of living and that had left them wanting more hence the urge to travel more. We want you to come to Nigeria also to experience our hospitality and if you read ComeToNigeria magazine, you will learn more about us too.
Print magazines and newspapers enable people to have something tangible and physical to keep, and that is why readers still buy the printed publications like ours as opposed to online ones. I am therefore surprised that some people who are online news entrepreneurs kept saying that the print publications would only last two more years. Not ComeToNigeria though, but let’s start counting, but please, to enjoy this edition, subscribe.
