Taiwan Empowers Youths, Seeks More Investment In Nigeria

The Taiwan Friendship Association in Nigeria (TFAN) has organised a knowledge-sharing workshop to harness the flourishing ties with the Taiwan government to impart knowledge to young Nigerians.

The workshop held yesterday in Abuja with the theme, “My Taiwan Experience; Leveraging On Technology and Development,” centred on Agriculture, e-Health, and Cybersecurity, and was facilitated in recognition of the importance of extending knowledge to Nigerian youths without them having to travel to Taiwan.

In his keynote address, President Taiwan Friendship Association (TFAN), Emmanuel Ohiomokhare said TFAN represents Nigerians who have benefited from skill acquisition and knowledge transfer facilitated by the Taiwan government.

He revealed that over nearly two decades, the Taiwan government has generously sponsored Nigerian professionals to Taiwan, enabling them to enhance their expertise in various fields.

“Some have attended periodic workshops, while others have pursued full undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Many of these individuals have returned to Nigeria and are actively applying their newfound knowledge and skills in their respective careers.

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“Our goal is to empower the next generation of Nigerian professionals by providing them access to insights and expertise acquired through the Taiwan connection.

The workshop, supported by the Taipei Trade office in Nigeria, featured interactive sessions in Agriculture, E-health, and Cybersecurity, led by TFAN members who have acquired new knowledge in Taiwan and are now sharing their expertise with young participants.

Chief of Mission, Taiwan government and Ambassador, Taipei Trade Office, Andy Yih-Ping Liu said the Taiwan economy is a successful reference model for Nigeria to learn from especially in the non-oil sector.

“Taiwan is a success story for developing everything based on our survival needs, because we have no natural resources.

We envy Nigeria so much because we suffer a lot from natural disasters. So what we have developed is purely based on our national orientation and development project.

Liu further said if the Nigerian government would like to develop more in-depth cooperation with Taiwan, “Taiwan can provide quite a lot on how to develop the civil society based on small and medium enterprises, the SMEs, develop youth capacity based on basic education, vocational education, and all kind of industrial training by the need of our society.

“So what we can do now is to finalise the renewal of the agreement for mutual protection of investment, and then we try to move on with whatever the Nigerian government would like to discuss with us.

“Let me just put two examples, because about one and a half months ago, the British government and the Nigerian government signed what we call the Enhanced Trade Agreement to promote deeper relations between Nigeria and the UK. Actually, the British government signed the same Enhanced Trade Pact with Taiwan in November last year. So the British are very smart.

“They pinpoint Taiwan as the most trustworthy trading partner in Asia, and at the same time they pinpoint Nigeria as the most trustworthy trading partner in Africa. And actually, Canadian government signed the Enhanced Investment Agreement with Taiwan in November last year. So the British and Canadians are moving very fast.

“They want to build more beneficial relations with Taiwan based on economic trading and investment. I think this is what the Nigerian government can take into consideration to deepen relations with Taiwan, because we mean no harm to anyone. We do not come to other people’s backyard to dig other people’s gold. We don’t do illegal mining. We don’t throw away billions of dollars building other people’s railways, harbour and airports and take it away from that country after a certain decade.

“We do only legitimate, fair trading under the guidance of Madame Okonjo-Iweala in the World Trade Organization, because Taiwan, Nigeria and China, and the rest of the world are equal members of the WTO.

“So we are one of the top role models for international trading mechanisms. We have worked closely with Madame Okonjo-Iweala in Geneva. Also, we are the top 15 trading economies in the world, and at the same time, we are the top leader in manufacturing of semiconductors. So we have demonstrated the strengths of Taiwan’s economic and industrial development based on our survival needs, and we have demonstrated we have the goodwill and the friendliness to collaborate with the rest of the world,” he added.