Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

THE Federal government on Thursday sought partnership with Ukraine to develop Nigeria’s inland waterways. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, said this at the Nigeria-Ukraine Trade and Investment roundtable in Abuja.

Mustapha also decried the decrease in trade volume between the two countries by four per cent.

He said that if Nigeria would develop its economy it must develop its inland waterways to reduce traffic on the roads.

The SGF said that Ukraine had made a mark in the development of waterways in Europe.

“This is an area I think we can fashion a partnership and help us in the development of our inland waterways.

“Nigeria has 10,000 kilometers of inland watersways, out of this about 4,000 are navigable.

“I believe for our economy to grow we must begin to work assiduously to develop our inland water ports so that we can take off the volume of traffic pressure from our roads,” he said.

According to him, this is to allow the roads have a sustainable period for a couple of years.

“The truth is that the weight load we put on our roads today will not allow our roads to be available for a couple of years to come except we invest heavily in terms of maintenance.

“So, if we can fully develop our inland waterways I believe that much of the cargo can go on inland waterways as it is being done in Ukraine,” he said.

He lauded the existing relations between the two countries which he said had helped in area of fighting insurgency in Nigeria.

The SGF noted that Nigeria procured military hardware for fighting terrorism from Ukraine.

On trade volume, Mustapha called on the two countries to put in place measures to increase it.

According to him, the trade volume between Nigeria and Ukraine was 93.3 million dollars as at November 2017, which is four per cent decrease in the 2016 figures.

He expressed hope that with the visit of the Ukrainian delegation, the trade volume between the two countries would increase.

“The visit came at a time Nigeria is pursuing economic growth that will aid its vision of being among top 20 economies in the world.

“It is gratifying to mention that as at November 2017, trade volume between Nigeria and Ukraine was 93.2 million dollars which was however a decrease by 4.6 per cent over the same period in 2016.

“It is my expectation that with your visit we hope the volume of trade may likely doubke in 2018,” he said.

The Trade Representative of Ukraine, Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Ms Natalia Mykolska, noted that Nigeria was a long standing friend of Ukraine, saying Nigerian students in Ukraine are the best ambassadors for both countries.

She said that Nigeria was a destination market for Ukraine export, stressing that there was need to talk about import and export to develop the two countries economy.

“Nigeria is a strategic partner, we believe trade is not a one way street, we need to think of import, export and joint cooperation.

“More than 10 Ukraine companies that represent different sectors of the economy are on this delegation – agriculture and food sector, grains and food cooperation, machine building factory, breaks and blots use in automotive sector, pharmaceutical sector, poultry,” she said.

While expressing delight on the forum, she expressed optimism that the meeting would bring a lot of achievement for the prosperity of both countries.

Nigeria office of trade negotiations, Chief Trade Negotiator Director General, Amb. Chinedu Osakwe, also corroborated SGF claim, saying there is huge imbalance of trade between the two countries.

Osakwe however said that the visit presented opportunity to balance the trade volume and cooperate in a way that will mutually benefit both countries.

He said the global financial crisis of 2008 affected Nigeria and in 2014, the oil price crisis affected Nigeria also.

“Ukraine is a good friend of Nigeria but with huge balance of trade if you look at the figure between 2015, 2016 and 2017 import value of Ukraine approximately is 91 billion dollars contrast to about 90 million dollars export to Ukraine.

“It is is now our responsibility not to repeat the exercise; the point is that we will now focus on the relationship to begin engagement on the rebalance and cooperate in the mutually benefited with Ukraine,” he said.

Osakwe while stressing in the areas of possible collaboration between the two countries, said what the countries could do together was diversification, through building of value chains.

According to him, the priority areas include maritime services – the development of our water ways.

“It is an area that we will need to identify to work together.

“Also in agriculture, robotics, genetics, energy, mining and manufacturing; these are the areas we would like to focus on.

“The watch Word is value chain, as the number one economy in Africa this very important,” he said. (NAN)

Amb. Olukunle Bamgbose, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  on Thursday said Nigeria was yet to make final conclusion on the closure of its mission in Ukraine.

Bamgbose said this in Abuja when Ukrainian investors led by Natalia Mykolska, Ukraine Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade, visited him in Abuja.

President Mohammadu Buhari had in 2015 directed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to review downward the number of the nation’s foreign missions for economic reason.

Bamgbose described Ukraine as one of the Nigeria’s strategic partners who had been of help to the country in terms of the need to fight terrorism.

”Apart from the fact that Ukraine is the second largest country hosting Nigerian students abroad, the country has proven itself to be a friend in times of need.

“By and large, I think we are good friends, the diplomatic relations between the two countries can only grow stronger and stronger and the government has not made final pronouncement on the closure of our mission there.

“We are still engaging, we are still waiting for final decision to be made.  But, I think beside that, Ukraine was being consider as a friend in need and a friend in deed at that critical moment in our history.

”And, it is something that government will take into consideration in the final decision on whether we are retaining our mission there or not,” he said.

Bamgbose said when Nigeria needed military hardware to deal with insurgency, it was Ukraine which came to the rescue of the country then and the nation did not take the gesture for granted.

“At that critical moment, Nigeria found a true friend in Ukraine and that has really helped in combating the surge of insurgency in the northeast and now they have been terribly decimated.

“Those who left their cities are now returning,  the infrastructure destroyed is now being rebuilt and to a large extent this is due to the military hardware procured from Ukraine,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary also called for the establishment of a joint commission between the two countries, which according to him would serve as a platform to further deepen relations.

”We consider Ukraine as a strategic partner a friend indeed and of course a friend in terms of need and we will do everything in our power to deepen the relations between the two countries.

”I understand that there are some outstanding agreements that are to be signed by the two countries.

”We will make sure that these agreements are looked into by the relevancy government agencies and of course prepare for signing,” he said.

On her part, Mykolska said the major aim of the visit was to create a platform for the two countries to deepen economic relations.

” Ukraine sees Nigeria as a strategic partner in terms of economic relations, Nigeria is a destination market for Ukraine export in export strategic to Ukraine,” she said.

She said there were lots of opportunities for both countries  businesses and called for deepening of relations between them.

”We believe trade is not a one way street, we need to think of import, export and joint cooperation,” she said.

The envoy said Nigeria was a long standing friend of Ukraine, noting that Nigerian students in Ukraine were the best ambassadors for both countries.

Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has said Nd’Igbo would be the major beneficiaries of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office.

Apex socio-political body of the Igbo, Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, had, in a recent statement, said it was only interested in restructuring, and has not taken any decision on the 2019 elections.

Speaking in Enugu on Sunday, Okechukwu, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, advised Igbo to back Buhari for a second term, as, according to him, restructuring was already on the agenda of the Buhari-led Federal Government.

The VON boss added that Igbo should support Buhari’s second term bid in order to have a chance of producing his (Buhari’s) successor in 2023.

Although the President is yet to declare his intention to go for another term, Okechukwu expressed certainty that Buhari would seek re-election.

Apparently reacting to Ohanaeze’s declaration that it was only concerned with restructuring, and was not thinking of the 2019 polls, Okechukwu said,

 “Restructuring is not a one-day event, but the golden opportunity of Buhari being the only Northerner, going by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the zoning convention, with only four years that ends in 2023, is a matter of fact.

“Voting for any other Northerner means postponement of the golden opportunity which Mr. President’s re-election offers Nd’Igbo.”

-Punch

The 800 hectares Special Green Industrial Park in Katsina shall commence economic activities this year, the state Governor Rt.Hon. Aminu Bello Masari said during the inauguration of the board of directors for the state Investment Promotion Agency.

“Investors will be invited to set up industries under the assurance of 100 percent availability of green power. We are starting with 100 hectares this year’ he said.

Masari said the agency shall be the focal point of contact for Al investors and will coordinate and facilitate with relevant MDA’s by eliminating all forms of bureaucratic bottlenecks toward achieving the set objectives.

“Katsina presently is ranked first in the ease of doing business  by the World Bank. This shows that our ability to provide quality service to the private sector has no doubt been an achievement of significant milestones”  he said.

The chairman of the board, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi assured the governor of their readiness to live up to expectation and promised that within the next few month undertake a comprehensive review of all business related legislations.

Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, yesterday, asked all those aspiring for the presidency in 2019 to seek forgiveness from Nigerians rather than vie for the exalted office.

Speaking in Katsina, Masari said most of those that had so far indicated interest in the office were the root

cause of Nigeria’s predicaments. Masari said what was needed of them was to first seek for forgiveness from Nigerians for the deteriorating condition they put them in. Masari said President Muhammadu Buhari came in when things were terribly bad, and that within the shortest possible time, he was able to re-position the country on the veritable path of growth and develop

The national executive committee of Nigeria’s ruling party has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari to seek a second term in an election next year, two senior party sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The national executive committee of the president’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party, which takes decisions on the party’s direction, held a one-day meeting which concluded late on Tuesday.

“The party made it clear that this endorsement is not an automatic ticket for the president,” one of the sources said, adding that the party would still conduct a presidential primary to be fair to other potential candidates.

A spokesman for the president could not immediately be reached for comment.

Nigeria’s political parties must select their candidates for the 2019 presidential election between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7 this year. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on February 16, 2019.

Adebayo Shittu, Nigeria’s minister of communications who played a prominent role in Buhari’s 2015 campaign, said in January he would chair a group to support the re-election of Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Campaigning for the re-election of a president in Nigeria has often started with such support groups before the incumbent declares his intention to run again.