India has assured of more investments in Nigeria’s agriculture to ensure food security as well as in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to boost the digital skills of Nigerians, education, health and other critical sectors.
The assurance was premised on the robust engagements between President Bola Tinubu and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day state visit to Nigeria between November 16 and 17, the first in 17 years by any Prime Minister of India.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday on the significance of the visit, Indian Secretary Dammu Ravi, said the two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in the field of trade, investment, defence, security, education, health, culture and people-to-people level at the delegation level talks.
“The two leaders also focused on further enhancing the strategic partnership in various sectors, in particular in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, railways, transportation and development cooperation fields. As you all are aware, the India-Nigeria relationship is very strong, underpinned by a strong economic cooperation and trade and investment. There are about 200 Indian companies who have invested about $27 billion in this country.
“The two leaders discussed ways to further expand this economic partnership for the mutual benefit of the two countries. Indian companies are also creating a large number of jobs in Nigeria and capacity building with a large number of scholarships and digital education methods,” he said.
He noted that both countries have a lot to achieve in the digital space as well as in the energy and renewable energy to fight climate change.
“On the agriculture front, yes, there has been serious talk today, the delegation level talks, including on how both India and Nigeria can work towards food security within the concept in the Global South for developing countries.
“I think Nigeria and many African countries provide an opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to be able to grow food crops in this part of the world and help in food security.
“And in that context, the idea of seed supplies, the mechanization, the tractors, research and development, collaboration on storage and distribution, the lentils, all these ideas came up in the delegation level talks. But I think we will be further building on these ideas subsequently at the expert level’,’ he added.
Also speaking during the conference, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Shri G. Balasubramanian, said that Indian companies are very strong in the traditional areas of manufacturing in Nigeria.
He added that there are new areas that were being identified, which include agriculture, particularly lentils and other things which are being considered as a possibility.
“Irrigation services, seed, hybrid seed development, research and development on good seeds, climate-resistant seeds and other things are being considered so that area can also come into focus between the two countries. So we talked about mining, we talked about various issues pertaining to small and medium enterprises, the skill development part of it,” the envoy said.
President Tinubu and his Indian counterpart also discussed global and regional issues even as they deepened commitment to the global south and how to take forward the agenda of the global south in the global arena.
Recall that Nigerian students have availed significant facilities both in Nigeria and also in India under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
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