When Prime Minister Modi lands in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday, it will mark the first visit by an Indian PM in 17 years. The charitable explanation would be India’s preoccupation with developments in the neighbourhood, managing great power relations and so on, none of which, some would say, does Nigeria any credit. But that country’s relative lack of visibility can also be attributed to other factors.
“Nigeria has no direct flight or ship connectivity and it has no Indian banks,” says Mahesh Sachdev, who served as India’s high commissioner there for five years (2008-13). “The imagery associated with the country has made it difficult to generate interest there. Hence, the focus of Indian stakeholders in business remains limited to countries which are more developed than us.”
But Nigeria’s potential cannot be denied. This nation of over 200 million people on Africa’s west coast is an important oil producer, although India bought less than $3 billion of Nigerial crude last year (compared to $2.8 billion of Russian crude in the month of July alone this year, clearly, discounts helped).
But Nigeria has other India connections: $15 billion in bilateral trade, also 200 Indian companies have invested over $27 billion in various sectors including infrastructure and are ranked second when it comes to providing employment to locals. Add to that, India’s $400 million aid programme, 50 0 scholarships given every year and 27,500 Nigerians trained in various disciplines.
When Modi sits down for talks with Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he is expected to focus on the gaps in various sectors that India could fill: for instance Indian pharma products could help tackle that nation’s recurrent epidemics of malaria, typhoid, ebola, AIDS, etc. A line of credit could help restore the flow of Nigerians who come to India for medical treatment.
In agriculture, India can help set up processing centres for palm oil, cashews, citrus fruits and so on, or even work out barter arrangements that benefit both nations.
Ambassador Sachdev believes India should propose rupee-based trading that will facilitate Nigeria buying more goods from India.
The larger sense is India has lost ground in Nigeria and there is need to build a more effective and comprehensive framework for bilateral renewal, hence, Modi ‘s visit is a good start.
