COVID-19: Nigeria-France trade volume drops by $2.2bn in 2020
By Kamarudeen Ogundele
The trade volume between Nigeria and France dropped by 2.2billion USD in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The French Minister of Trade and Attractiveness, Franck Riester, disclosed this at a meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) on Tuesday in Abuja.
The meeting was presided over by Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, who stood in for the NGF Chairman and governor of Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who joined the meeting later.
Riester described Nigeria as the France’s first commercial partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He said, “Nigeria is indeed France’s first commercial partner in Sub-Saharan Africa : bilateral trade amounted to a total of 4.5 billion USD in 2019 (2.3 billion USD in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
“France is a major financial partner for Nigeria, being the second bilateral creditor of Nigeria after China, thanks to the involvement of French Development Agency (AFD). AFD engaged more than 2 billion Euros in the last 10 years in over 35 development projects.
“France will also dedicate financing and capacity building in the health sector in some Nigerian States.
“France is also one of the major partners of the COVAX initiative. Last February, President (Emmanuel) Macron stated that the failure to share vaccines would entrench global inequality and proposed sending part of the coronavirus vaccine supplies owned by European countries, the USA, China and Russia to developing countries.
“Nigeria is the first country in sub-Saharan Africa for French direct investments.”
According to Riester, there are around 100 French companies, present in many sectors in areas including health, energy, environment and logistics.
He added that they had employed more than 10 000 people, mostly Nigerians, and contributed to vocational training.
Riester visit followed the priorities set by French President Emmanuel Macron during his official visit to Nigeria in July 2018 and his willingness to change the narrative of the relations between Africa and France.
The French Minister would have several official meetings in Abuja and Lagos, to stress the importance of the bilateral economic relation.
The governors expressed willingness to collaborate with France to aid direct investment into their states.
Among the governors at the meeting were Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Sani Bello (Niger), Cross-River, as well as Governor Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) and Prof Babagana Zulum (Borno), who attended virtually.
