Brexit And Africa: Is There A Need To Panic?

Brexit has remained a controversial topic of discussion around the world since the past week and it is generally assumed that the sudden exit of Britain from the European Union has created a rather “Unnecessary fear” especially in the minds of Nigerians and Africans as a whole while some are indifferent about its outcome.

Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, spoke on the impact of Brexit on Nigeria’s oil sector. He told CNBC that: “In terms of its effect on oil, I am not too sure why it should have an effect on oil, the European Union is not a huge consumer of oil as it were, once the dust settles, oil will climb back to where it should be but there isn’t any logical reason on the demand and supply cub basis why it should have a dramatic effect on oil”

On the trade and financial sector, Gbite Oduneye, Managing Director at Eagle Capital Markets expressed opinion of Brexit from the global market viewpoint, he said; “The reality is, nobody expected it; the policy makers, the traders, economists all got the predictions wrong.

So In the build up to the referendum in England and after the votes, there was a sharp drop in the market and that continued until Monday but a number of traders are now repositioning based on the news. Brexit will affect not just people who do trades with England; it will be the entire European Union because there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment.”

Other Nigerians were indifferent about Brexit being a threat to its economy while some believe it might have a negative effect on the longrun.