UK Minister of Trade and Business Visits Nigeria to Strengthen Connections

Kemi Badenoch, the minister of business and trade for the United Kingdom, has arrived in Nigeria and will be here for three days.

The visit would strengthen the UK-Nigeria collaboration, the British High Commission said in a statement.

According to information provided to The Guardian, the minister will discuss matters of common interest to both countries with her counterparts in Nigeria and other important government representatives while she was there.

James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, paid an official visit to the nation in August of last year to hold follow-up discussions on defense and security cooperation between the two nations. 

According to a statement from the High Commission, Minister Badenoch’s visit will advance ongoing efforts by both nations to strengthen the UK-Nigeria trade relationship and open up new investment opportunities, building on the former Foreign Secretary’s visit to Nigeria and last week’s UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Talks.

Badenoch and Helen Grant, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, will meet with state governors, federal government representatives, investors, and executives of Nigerian and British businesses.

During the meeting, the minister will examine both present and future trade and investment opportunities, ranging from energy and infrastructure projects to education, with the potential to generate thousands of employment.

Badenoch aims to enhance the commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, expand business exchanges between the two nations, and make the British business community more easily accessible to Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Dr. Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, was cited as saying, “Nigeria is one of the UK’s most important partners in Africa,” about her visit to the country. Our goal is to facilitate greater foreign and UK investment through the City of London, open up new investment opportunities for Nigeria, and create jobs in both of our countries as a result.

“International investors are feeling more optimistic about Nigeria and its prospects for growth as a result of recent significant and daring reforms implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government of Nigeria.”