Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann who ended a two-day visit to Nigeria said his home government is looking at available opportunities in Nigeria to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. He said that 45 Swiss companies are currently present in Nigeria, which together employ about 9,000 people.
Schneider-Ammann, who also holds the education and research portfolios, was accompanied to Abuja and Lagos by a group of Swiss parliamentarians, members of cantonal governments and business representatives. A ministry spokeswoman said the visit had come at an opportune time. Switzerland and its partners in the EFTA European Free Trade Association (including Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) in December signed a common statement of intent to boost economic cooperation with Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country with190 million inhabitants.
Nigeria is seeking to improve its infrastructure, fight inequality and corruption as well as the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, where there is an Islamic insurgency. Its biggest challenge is to create jobs for young people. In Abuja, Nigeria’s Industry, Trade and Investment Minister Okechukwu Enelamah told the Swiss delegation of Nigeria’s efforts at relaunching its economy, including reducing its dependence on oil. Nigeria is a major oil producer and has since 2015 been Switzerland’s biggest oil supplier.
In 2017, 45 per cent of Swiss oil imports came from Nigeria. Nigeria is just emerging from an economic recession caused by falling oil prices since 2014. Its GDP declined for seven consecutive quarters before registering a modest 0.8 per cent growth last year. Schneider-Ammann now visits Côté d’Ivoire, a francophone country of 27 million people, before leaving Africa on Sunday.
