Nigeria is to receive $200 million and technical support from the Republic of Germany for the establishment of the Nigerian Development Bank. In addition, Nigeria will also receive $10 million as German assistance to deal with the problem of insecurity in the country.
These promises were made when the German Minister for Economic Cooperation, Mr Gerd Miller visited the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her office in Abuja.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s pivotal role in world economy and politics as well as Germany’s interest to operate in an emerging economy; Mr. Miller regretted the paucity of information on the African market, including Nigeria.
As a way of bridging this information gap, the German Minister invited Dr. Okonjo-Iweala to Germany to have serious interaction with the German business community. This he believes would aid German investors and businessmen to gain proper knowledge of investment opportunities in the continent and the nature of the African market.
In her speech at the meeting, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the German Minister who was visiting Nigeria for the first time. In her brief presentation on the economy, she informed the German visitors that with the recent rebasing of her Gross Domestic Product, Nigeria was now the largest economy in Africa even though her per capita income is still low because of large population. With a growth rate of 6.4% and low debt to GDP ratio of 5%, Nigeria had great economic potentials yet to be tapped, the CME said.
Speaking further, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said though the country’s economy was fast growing, Nigeria is still confronted with the serious problems of unemployment and economic inequality. She however said the present administration has made job creation and economic development top priorities of its economic policy.
She mentioned development of the housing sector and agricultural revolution as part of the measures to address the unemployment situation. According to her, the two sectors were specifically targeted because of their limitless capacity for job creation. She also said the power and creative sectors were being given serious attention.
Finally, Okonjo-Iweala called for cooperation and partnership with the Republic of Germany in the development of the Nigerian Development Bank and the reinvigoration of the country’s manufacturing sector. She also accepted the invitation to meet with German investors and businessmen in Germany to interact on Nigeria’s business climate and investment opportunities.
