Nigeria
is the chief driver of international trade in Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), which consists of sixteen countries. Market analysts
from the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and
Agriculture (NACCIMA) claim that Nigeria accounts for over 40 percent of
imports in the sub-region and ranks among Africa’s largest consumer markets.
As
a gateway to fifteen smaller West African countries and a net importer of
equipment, Nigeria can be a very rewarding market for international companies
that take the time and effort to understand its complex market conditions and
opportunities, find the right partners and clients, and take a longterm
approach to market development.
Nigeria’s
annual growth rate averaged over seven percent during the past decade. As a
result, the country is regarded as one of the fastest growing economies in the
world. To sustain this annual growth rate, the Government of Nigeria (GON) is
privatizing important sectors of Nigeria’s economy, promoting public-private
partnerships and encouraging strategic alliances with foreign firms especially
for infrastructure development and technology acquisition in critical sectors
such as security, power generation, transportation, and healthcare.
Recent
developments in some key industry sectors offer international exporters a range
of opportunities. For instance, the Agricultural Transformational Agenda (ATA)
is a priority program for the Government of Nigeria that is getting a lot of
attention and support from the World Bank and International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD). While the World Bank has said that it will
commit $1 billion to support Nigeria’s agricultural sector in the next five
years, IFAD will commit $88.5 million to the program. Procurement opportunities
for farm inputs include farm tractors, irrigation systems, agricultural
fertilizers, pest control and improved seeds.
Nigeria
ranks as Africa’s largest oil producer and the twelfth largest in the world,
producing high-value, low-sulfur content crude oil. A now five-year long effort
to reform Nigeria’s oil and gas legal framework has created uncertainty that
has delayed billions of dollars in potential investment in this sector. The
National Assembly is reviewing the most recent version of a Petroleum Industry
Bill (PIB), which seeks to incorporate and update 16 different laws that
regulate the sector.
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