00:00So in the last two years, with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bolamed Tinambu,
00:04which really laid out exactly what we'd like to do as an administration,
00:09item number seven specifically on non-oil exports is where this ministry has its mandate.
00:15So we really prioritized export diversification in the agribusiness space, in the digital trade space,
00:23very specifically going after targeted interventions.
00:26Now, the central bank released at the end of Q1 that non-oil exports to the rest of Africa was up 24 percent year on year.
00:36And so that just signals the trajectory in which Nigerian businesses are going.
00:42Does it complicate anything, though, with U.S. tariffs and really the trade outlook that we're seeing across the continent, but also globally?
00:51So this has been the question on everybody's lips right from Davos in January till now.
00:55And my answer remains the same.
00:57We've been looking at the broad spectrum of where trade diversification would suit Nigerian businesses across the world.
01:05So you've seen Nigerian administration, the government turning up in Brazil, having guests from Colombia.
01:11The VP of Colombia was around.
01:13We've had discussions with strategic partners.
01:17U.S., we have a commercial investment partnership that we launched in June.
01:20We also have discussions.
01:22We were in the U.K.
01:23So traditional strategic partners and also a lot of attention from the Gulf, from the UAE, from Qatar, from Saudi.
01:31It's a big world.
01:32New friends to be made.
01:34Is it what does that mean, though, for the U.S. relationship with Nigeria?
01:38The U.S. relationship with Nigeria is the one that is – the U.S. relationship with Nigeria is a very long one.
01:47It's a strategic one.
01:48There's really not a problem from our end.
01:52The U.S. has the right to review its tariffs.
01:55Nigerian businesses and U.S. businesses continue to trade and collaborate.
01:59That's why our commercial investment partnership is doing so well.
02:02We started it off in June with our colleagues and counterparts.
02:05We have three sections, agribusiness, tech, and we continue to just make sure that we support private sector as G2G to trade, which is what we're really interested in.
02:16We're open for business.
02:17We have seen, as you mentioned, a number of reforms actually trying to take place, but we're still not seeing FDI probably where you want it to be.
02:26How would you assess where you're currently at right now?
02:28Well, I would say the president has led the charge.
02:30In the last two years, we've seen over $50 billion of investment announcements.
02:35Some of them have crystallized and materialized and come in.
02:38For instance, we had like $2.5 billion from Brazil.
02:41That is firm.
02:42They're on ground.
02:42They're already moving.
02:44So we continue to track, and our job is to facilitate.
02:47Our job is to enable.
02:48Our job is to continue to handhold and bring those businesses in, bring that money home.
02:53And so we're bullish that with the stability we've achieved in the macros, even the toughest critics would know that we've stabilized, we've removed subsidies.
03:02The tax infrastructure has been revamped, the whole architecture.
03:08And really, the best is yet to come.
03:09The trajectory for the Nigerian economy is firm.
03:12It's clear.
03:13It's transparent.
03:13It's being strongly signaled at home and abroad.
03:16What's your expectation, though, for when we'll actually see more inflows?
03:20We've already started seeing the inflows in certain sectors.
03:24The agriculture space, we've already started seeing critical inflows.
03:27We've seen inflows coming in from UAE.
03:29We've seen inflows coming in from Brazil.
03:31We have a lot of not just interest, but people that are actually partnering, whether it's dairy, whether it's meat processing, whether it's crops production.
03:40We've actually begun to see the inflows.
03:44And Nigeria is an excellent place, I mustn't forget to say this, to really reach into the rest of Africa, the African continental free trade area.
03:52So manufacturing or growing in Nigeria for the rest of the region, critical positioning for us.
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