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Nigeria, Uganda to okay pact on investments' protection
TO foster economic ties and integration on the continent, Nigeria and Uganda will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for mutual protection of investments between both countries.
Chairman of Ikeja Hotels Limited and Nigeria's coordinator, Business Group of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Mr. Goodie Ibru has also warned that without integration the continent would continue to trail the rest of the world in terms of development.
Ibru, who was in Kampala, Uganda as part of a business delegation led by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said that such integration must be based on the implementation of private and public sector partnerships, as the future of the continent would be determined by how well the continental initiative was handled.
He told The Guardian after a meeting with a group of Ugandan businessmen at which prospects for mutual investments between Nigeria and Uganda were explored, that the four-day trade mission was in line with the policy of the African Union that Nigeria should play a very important role in the economic development of the continent. "That is why the AU has adopted NEPAD. We had an economic forum in which we had opportunity to share experiences and we hope that that would lay the foundation for joint projects between Nigeria and Uganda.
"In the pipeline is a Memorandum of Understanding that would encapsulate some of our plans, dreams and aspirations. One important feature would be the protection of investments so that if a Nigerian comes here and invests, he has the guarantee of the government of Uganda that his investment is protected, and vise versa. The Memorandum of Understanding would be concluded soon so that this joint collaboration can take off at the earliest possible time.
"There may be problems, but they will always be overcome. One major factor militating against trade between Nigeria and Uganda is that Uganda is land-locked, which means that you cannot access it by sea unless you have to go through either Tanzania or Kenya. This is a major constraint. The only other alternative is to fly, by air transportation. And that is quite prohibitive in terms of cost. But with African integration and the political will which I know is there, there is no reason why infrastructure by way of good railway and road network, crossing through the whole of Africa should not take place. And if this takes place, it would facilitate trade between Nigeria and Uganda", Ibru said.
He said that as a first step, Africa must industrialise, because according to him, it is only by industrialization and mining that new wealth will be traded, which in turn creates employment.
Ibru said that areas of investment in Uganda include agro-allied industries, tourism and the service industry.
He said: "There are a lot of resources here. Even in the area of agriculture, Uganda produces a lot of fruits, a lot of coffee. These are now being exported as raw materials. If you can add value to them, if you can process them, then you get more money when you export them. So, in the area of value added to raw materials, this gives great potentials. Another area is tourism, which I have particular interest in. Ecotourism is catching up everywhere in the world. We have huge opportunities for ecotourism in Africa. There could be joint collaboration between Nigeria and Uganda so that people who are coming from long distances, don't have to visit only one country. We can have joint marketing and promotion whereby people can spend some time in Nigeria and also in Uganda.
"This would reduce the cost of bringing tourist to Africa, probably also connect with other countries. This is because the type of bilateral relations we are having with Uganda, we also want to have with other countries so that we can truly have inter-African business relationships. A situation where Africa trades with more of the rest of the world than with its own sister countries is not ideal. There must be regional integration and continental integration and that will give us better leverage in being integrated into the global economy".
According to him, the whole idea is for the NEPAD Business Group to sensitise and mobilize the private sector to take up the challenges and also to take full advantage of the opportunities of African integration.
He added: "the end result would be a stronger economy in Africa, a situation whereby quality of life would improve; poverty may not be fully eradicated but it would be significantly alleviated. We hope to use these to achieve regional and continental objectives of integrating the economies of Africa for the overall interest of all Africans. We have no choice. With the global economy, we would not be relevant without this integration. It is future of Africa. It has to be embraced; it must be made to work because strictly speaking, there is no alternative to African integration".`
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