Dike Onwuamaeze

The President of the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Mr. Abimbola Olashore, has stated that creating a structured market for the creative industry and adherence to international standards would boost the volume of Nigeria-British trade far above the current £8 billion.

Olashore stated this when he led a team of the NBCC’s officials on a courtesy visit to explore a strategic partnership between the bilateral chamber and THISDAY and ARISE TV media group.

On his part, the Managing Director of THISDAY, Mr. Eniola Bello, thanked Olashore for putting forward the partnership proposal, saying that, “we are for you as long as the relationship is mutually beneficial. You can count on our support in terms of what you are doing.”

Olashore said that the NBCC has been at the forefront and centre of promoting Nigeria-UK trade through its annual trade mission to London and the Nigeria-UK Business Dialogue, which enables business people from both countries and their respective government agencies to iron out issues militating against trade.

He said: “First, go and see the trade relation between the UK and Nigeria in terms of increase. I think that it is about 8 billion pounds sterling. But I cannot come out to say that the NBCC is responsible for the increase.

“But note what we do in terms of programmes. We have our annual trade mission to London. We had one in April. It was at our chamber’s programme two years ago that Britain first unveiled the enhanced trade programme for Nigeria. It was in that room that they said that they are going to allow Nigeria quotas free and duty-free export into the United Kingdom. And they listed about a thousand commodities.”

Olashore, however, disclosed that Nigeria has not been able to fully optimise this opportunity because of failures of Nigerian exporters to meet the British standard requirements.

He said: “But Nigeria has not taken full advantage of this enhanced trade relation. Nigeria is saying that the UK should reduce its standards to accommodate Nigerian goods. But the UK is insisting that its standards are global, and if Nigeria can meet them, Nigeria can sell anywhere in the world. So, the key is for Nigeria to meet the international standard, and we are trying to nudge this into the thinking of Nigerian exporters that they should not ask countries to lower standards for them.”

Olashore also harped on the need to put in place a structure for Nigeria’s entertainment industry in order to attract the funding that would enable it to penetrate foreign markets and grow Nigeria’s export volume exponentially.

He also said that the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics should be strengthened to establish a presence in every local government in the country for effective capturing of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).

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