President Muhammadu Buhari says the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union is now all but certain, noting that only the passage of time will reveal what their new relationship shall be.
In a statement personally signed by him, President Buhari said that with the new arrangement, he like many other Commonwealth leaders also seeks a new settlement: not only of closer relations between the UK and Nigeria but of unleashing trade within the Commonwealth.
The President noted that relations between Nigeria and the UK are close and longstanding, most recently reiterated in the 2018 bi-lateral security pact and collaboration in anti-trafficking.
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He explained that in recent years, relationship – particularly economically – has become increasingly defined by Britain’s membership of the European Union.
A new free trade agreement would reconfigure this, presenting new opportunities for both.
As the largest economy in Africa, the Nigerian leader noted that nearly 200 million people in Nigeria has a great deal to offer because its vast natural energy and mineral resources, unbarred through the ending of customs barriers, could help supply growth for companies in all corners of the UK.
Greater access would also be forthcoming to one of the world’s fastest expanding groups of consumers – the Nigerian middle classes.
The President noted that for Nigeria, greater UK engagement in its economy would bring jobs to under-tapped sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing, while millions of highly skilled, English-speaking but underemployed young people, are eager to work but without the opportunities that foreign investment can bring to create jobs and build businesses.
President Buhari further explained that there is also a case to be made that our two Commonwealth countries should try, with other members, to deliver more – collectively, adding that in 2015, he became the first head of a new Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council tasked with boosting trade and investment within the wider organisation.
While noting that Nigeria and the UK must be realistic, the President insists that the Commonwealth will not suddenly become a multilateral-free trade zone because members reside within regional free trade and customs zones of their own.
He maintained that a renewed sense of Commonwealth solidarity would also be of enormous benefit to the large and vital diasporas – particularly from Africa and the Indian subcontinent – that live in Western Commonwealth countries such as Britain, Canada and Australia.
These communities he added still maintain the strongest of cultural and family links with the countries from which they and their forebears emigrated.
Yet visa restrictions and customs barriers must be reduced to fulfill the potential these connections could bring to the nations where they today reside.
As an African leader, the President concludes that he had an obligation to speak of the fact that while many in the African Diaspora enjoy considerable benefits from life in the West, they do not always feel at the heart of the community, adding that a renewed sense that there are ties that bind us through the Commonwealth, and a concerted effort to grow those links through trade, could act as a spur to encourage togetherness and the certainty of belonging.