Nigeria, India trade rises to $12bn —Envoy

The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Nagabhushana Reddy, said the trade value between India and Nigeria rose to $12 billion between April 2017 to March 2018.

Reddy, who made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen at a flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 72nd Independence of India in Abuja recently, said the current amount represents 26 percent increase from the previous financial year.

“Looking at the bilateral relations, our financial year is from April last year to March this year. We have been able to register $12 billion of bilateral trade which marks an increase of 26 percent from the previous year,” he said.

He said Nigeria was one of India’s major exporter of crude oil, adding that both countries were exploring other areas of bilateral relations as this year also marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between both countries.

India is Nigeria’s second export trading partner after Netherlands, the value of trade with the Asian country accounted for 18.2 percent of the total value of goods exported from Nigeria in the first quarter of 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

“We are looking at bringing more Indian companies here and looking at not just a buyer-seller arrangement but to do more investments.

“As of today, Indian companies have invested about 10 billion dollars and I think there are about 135 Indian companies in Nigeria.

“I can mention that Indian investments are in the field of pharmaceuticals, electrical manufacturing, assembly lines for automobiles particularly agricultural related,” he added.