How India-Africa Forum Summit Will Benefit Nigeria, Others – Envoy

In this interview with INNOCENT  ODOH, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abhishek Singh, is optimistic that the 4th Edition of the India-Africa Forum Summit scheduled for May 31 in New Delhi, will benefit Nigeria and other African countries in multiple sectors.

India appears to have joined the bandwagon of countries hosting summits with African countries but our concern is what do Nigeria and other African countries stand to benefit from this summit at this time?

In the last ten years both Africa as a continent and India as a country have undergone changes that are positive. So, it is the right time for all the countries in Africa and India to interact in a very structured way.

Africa has always been our center of engagement. I recall the historic speech of Indian Prime Minister Nerandra Modi at the Parliament Uganda in 2018, where he enunciated the 10 Principles which drive Africa’s foreign policy and the center was the fact that it will be guided by the priorities of Africa and also stressed the point that Africa is the focus of India’s foreign policy.

The India- Africa Forum Summit will provide the platform to discuss issues pertaining to security, political dialogue, economic and trade relations, developmental partnership, people –to- people exchanges and cultural exchanges. This will provide a unique opportunity for African businessmen to look at new areas of cooperation and we are hoping to have a very high participation of Heads of State and Government from African countries.

How would you describe India-Nigeria Relations?

As far as Nigeria is concerned, we are looking at Nigeria as emblematic of India- Africa relations. Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy, one of the largest economies in Africa and the Indian Prime Minister has invited President Bola Tinubu and he will be truly honored to have the participation of the Nigerian President.

I recall with great fondness and pride the historic visit of the President Tinubu to India when India was having the G20 Presidency and in the following year the Indian Prime Minister Modi also paid a historic visit to Nigeria in November 2024 where he was honoured with the second highest civilian award of the country.

We are also aware of the power of our cultural exchanges and I can assure you that there is a growing interest in India of what your culture, your music and dance have to offer. The afro- beat is becoming increasingly popular in India and names like Whiz Kid, Davido are not only popular in Nigeria but also in India because they are global icons.

Nigerians are concerned with having their agro-commodity products gain access to the huge Indian markets. How will this Summit facilitate this access?

You have mentioned a very important pillar of our relationship that is economic partnership. When we say partnership we mean a handshake. It is a two-way traffic and this is what I want to emphasis. Talking about India- Nigeria trade relations, we are doing fairly well although there is room for improvement. We are close to 8 to 9 billion dollars of annual trade.

You mentioned agricultural commodities having access to the Indian market, which has the world’s largest populated country. Nigeria is the sixth largest and there are estimates that by 2050 Nigeria will be the third largest country in the world after India and China. So, naturally we have huge markets as far as both countries are concerned.

Our government is in close contact with your Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Finance to discuss issues pertaining to market access. There are some items upon which restrictions were imposed by the Nigerian side and it affected some of our exporters, and we are trying to find a way out.

So, if there are some barriers, we will look into that and see how we can eliminate those barriers. But every government is free to determine what kind of policy they will have to promote not only their trade but also to protect their local market. We are all members of international organizations and we comply with international obligations and we do the best possible for exporters and importer.

India is a global power in ICT, so how will the summit boost the ICT sector in Nigeria?

ICT is the strength of India and we place a lot of importance on digital public infrastructure. I can assure you that at the very highest level, we are having robust and productive discussions aimed at promoting collaboration in the ICT sector. India is globally known to be an IT power and we look forward to more and more collaborations with partner countries like Nigerian in the sector.