Chamber, UKTI to lure more British investors into Nigeria’s economy

THE Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) have pledged to collaborate in attracting more British investments into Nigeria. 

  This was made known during a send forth luncheon organized by NBCC in honour of the outgoing Director of UKTI, Mike Purves in Lagos Wednesday.

  The President of NBCC, Prince Adeyemi Adefulu said the relationship between NBCC and UKTl has evolved, adding that the two bodies attract more British companies into Nigeria.

  He described the outgoing Director of UKTI, Mr. Mike Purves as a man of impeccable character who has made lots of contributions to the advancement of trade relations between Nigeria and Britain through advocacy in Nigeria and UK.

  Adefulu noted that Nigeria has image problem and that Mr. Purves through UKTI had worked with the Chamber in promoting  business opportunities in Nigeria by encouraging UK companies to look beyond the challenges in the country.

  While welcoming Chris Maskell, the new Director of UKTI to Nigeria, Adefulu expressed optimism that the two bodies will do more this year and beyond to attract UK companies to Nigeria.

  Purves described Nigeria as one the best destinations for business with its position as the biggest economy in Africa. He said Nigeria major resources are not oil and gas but its human resource and diversity.

 He said NBCC and UKTI have succeeded in almost all bilateral trade in the past four years and that UKTI was looking at the next stage of  partnership with the Chamber.

   Maskell said one of his major plans was to work closely with the Chamber to increase the number of UK companies in Nigeria.

  He has been Interim Head of UK Trade & Investment in Mexico since August 2014. Prior to this he was Head of UKTI in Iraq, based at the British Embassy in Baghdad, and has previously worked on the UKTI Middle East desk in London.