Nigeria is set to establish a match-making data base for international business interconnectivity and stress-free investments, says Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama.
Onyeama told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday that the 119 Nigeria missions abroad would serve as one-stop shops to spur investments through information sharing and elimination of bottlenecks.
He said the initiative would enable Nigeria’s products and investors to access the world market easily and also enable foreign investors have unfettered access to informed and genuine information concerning business opportunities in Nigeria.
The minister explained that the scheme would be implemented through a matching-making data base aimed at promoting exports and enhancing the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
According to Onyeama, the design is an economic diplomacy which is a framework to address the severe economic challenges facing Nigeria.
He said that Nigeria has representations in 119 countries and the ministry could leverage on the advantage to deliver concrete economic benefit to the nation.
“It is a pet project. It is a matching making data base for our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and export promotion.
“So this data base will essentially enable any Nigerian business to upload to our data base that could be managed from Foreign Affairs together with the ministry of trade and investment,” he said.
He said all the information needed about what they want to export and investment types would be readily available in all the119 countries where Nigeria has presence.
“I felt that when we have presence in 119 countries it is fantastic advantage to push Nigerian products and businesses in 119 countries.
“So we would like to present a one-stop shop to export Nigerian goods.
“And that whenever any business is uploaded in each of their countries they have to seek for partners and match that business person with a partner in that country to put in places a business agreement,” he explained.
The minister said he would like same be done in inversely and conversely, so that any foreigner who wants to get involve in business in Nigeria not knowing the country can also upload on the data base.
According to him, such people can access all the information about what they might want to deal in and we together with ministry of trade we match them with Nigerian businesses.
Besides, he said the scheme would also save Nigerian businessmen from going through all kinds of bottlenecks and paying all kinds of fees in foreign countries.
“We feel it that way because we have a lot bottlenecks in a lot of Nigerian businessmen trying to do business outside the country, so many bottlenecks.
“So if we can provide them a very simple access what we call it is market access.
“We have the markets in all these countries, so that our business people and traders have the world at their finger-tips,” he said.
Onyeama said that his ministry was also looking at how to utilise the same method to attract more FDI into Nigeria.
He said that Nigerians in the Diaspora would also be able to utilise the data base to search for partners in Nigeria and other countries. (NAN)