‘Productivity, Innovation Will Balance Trade Between Nigeria, Germany’

The chief executive officer of CCI Giessen-Freidberg, a German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Matthias Leder, has said that the only way the federal government can change the narrative of trade imbalance that the country is currently having with Germany is to improve labour and capital productivity and engage in innovation.

Leder, who bemoaned the below one per cent volume of trade between the two countries, said both nations must put efforts in place to improve the situation for the benefit of the two countries.
He stated this at the opening of the 14th Gateway International Trade Fair in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He noted that the trade balance between Germany and Africa, particularly Nigeria, is very uneven compared to Brazil and the Republic of China.

According to him, Germany does a lot of trading with Brazil and China, but its volume of international trade with Africa is two per cent, of which Nigeria is less than one per cent. He says his dream is to see the exchange between Germany and Nigeria grow.

Leder, who observed that international trade has always been a cornerstone of prosperity and development, stressed that Germany was poised to change the narrative of the trade imbalance that Nigeria is having with Germany.

He added that China’s investment in Africa in the last twenty years is much more than that of Europe as the country invested in infrastructure, rail, ports, telecommunications, etc. The German trade envoy declared his country would work to close the gap in the balance of trade with Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world.

Leder, however, identified low labour productivity, high capital interest, innovation and illegal immigration as parts of the bane underpinning international trade between Nigeria and Germany.

“To change the narrative of the trade imbalance that Nigeria is having with Germany, you can improve labour productivity, as well as capital and innovation productivity. We have this project called dual vocation training to improve the factor labour. These people received excellent practical training, and they easily found jobs in Europe and Germany because the training included working in a company for three days and spending two days in a vocational training school,’’ he said.

The President of the National Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mine and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dele Oye, disclosed that the Chamber was already partnering with Germany to import some machines for agro-processing, noting, “once you process your goods, the value you get is usually five times of the 1% you will have without processing.”