..As Ooni facilitates business engagement
Nigeria and Kazakhstan in the next few days will be engaged in series of discussions with the aim to enhance bilateral relations.
Already both countries are exploring areas of cooperation in agriculture, trade and information technologies at a business conference in Abuja facilitated by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.
No fewer than 30-member delegation from Kazakhstan public and private sectors operators are in country to exploredseveral areas of cooperation.
Speaking at the Conference, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, highlighted the giant strides made so far in the agriculture sector by the current administration, including having more harvest compared to the previous year.
He therefore said Nigeria could collaborate with Kazakhstan in many areas of the sector.
He said: “We’re meeting with them on Tuesday at 2 o’clock, and we will talk more and elaborately on some of the opportunities that exist between Nigeria and Kazakhstan in terms of the agricultural space.
“We are not asking only for them to come and invest. We are also asking for us to partner with them. What is it that they need? We have products that we have in abundance here.”
Speaking at the conference, the minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications, innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said the ministry had already developed a strategic blueprint with six pillars, adding that each of these pillars is a potential area of collaboration and partnership with the Kazakhstan team.
“In particular, pillar number one speaks about knowledge, capacity building and talents. I’m aware that Kazakhstan is quite advanced in terms of its knowledge base in ICT. So this is a big area that we can partner,” the Minister represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Faruk Yabo.
“We already have the world’s largest capacity-building initiative that we are running, which is the three million technical talents by 2027. This is intended to train Nigerians in technical talent so that at least 1.5 million of them will be able to work in Europe and the remaining ones could be here.”
He also said the two countries were looking to cooperate in artificial intelligence, adding that Nigeria had just finished drafting its artificial intelligence strategy.
Besides, the minister called for cooperation in the development of digital infrastructure.
On his part, the Kazakhstan head of delegation, Alibek Kuantyrov, said this is the first official delegation from Kazakhstan to Nigeria, adding that the huge young population of youths in the two countries provided an opportunity for cooperation.
“Our main trajectory is economic development, and we are the largest economy in Central Asia. So the same as Nigeria, Nigeria is a leader in the African continent.
“We see Nigeria as a very important partner and also the channel to go through the whole continent, and I think we can work together in terms of the transit of goods, trade and also making pure mutual investment in the field of minerals.
“We’re also an ICT and AI nation and also a FinTech nation, the sectors that are being developed in Nigeria and now we have managed and come to a conclusion that we can also open some FinTech and banking companies in the Nigerian markets.
“We can also exchange our ICT products and make an exchange of students because we have a target in our country to prepare at least 1 million IT specialists.”
The Ooni of Ife said President Bola Tinubu should be credited for being proactive and making the business conference a reality, adding that it was a follow-up from the meeting between the presidents of the two countries in Abu Dhabi in January.
“They are very bullish. They are serious. They mean business. They’re here with their largest contingent, and they want to see how to explore so many things, and it will really help Nigerian youth in terms of employment. Look at another beautiful thing that came up today as a country. They’re changing their visa policy for them to accommodate Nigerians that are so talented in the area of tech, artificial intelligence, in area of writing codes.”
Ends
Alright, sir. The brain behind this meeting, sir, between Nigerian businessmen and Kazakhstan delegation, sir? Well, the credit goes to our president for being proactive. He has shown leadership capacity.
And honestly speaking, to me, at the helm of affairs of one of the prominent traditional rulers in Nigeria, he is leading the boldest government in our history. You know, there is no pain without gain. The pain has been enormous, we know, but this is now the time for us to be seeing the result.
And you can see what has happened between the largest economy in Central Asia, which is Kazakhstan, and the largest economy in the whole of the continent of Africa. They are very bullish, they are serious, they mean business. Our president just met with their president just a few months ago, less than even two months, in Abu Dhabi, the fallout of Abu Dhabi conference, and immediately they hit the road.
They’re here with their largest contingent, and they want to see how to explore so many things, and it will really help Nigerian youth in terms of employment. Look at another beautiful thing that came up today. As a country, they’re changing their visa policy for them to accommodate Nigerians that are so talented in the area of tech.
Artificial intelligence, in the area of writing codes, so that they will be going and coming back to Nigeria, because we don’t want to encourage a lot of human capital flight. We want them to go do a reciprocity program, encourage a lot of young people in Kazakhstan, and encourage a lot of young people in the area of technology. They have a window, a very large window for Nigerians to come and have a longer stay, because they have three times the land mass of Nigeria, and they have only 20 million people.
But here, we have over 240 million people, with a land mass of one third of what they have. So it’s a great opportunity. Our leader, our president, saw it very fast and quickly, you know, he went to the meeting, and they had a very good bilateral meeting, and they are all here.
All ministries are on board. To me, we’ve been able to cut the red tapestry, and things are moving very fast. We will feel the impact in the country,
“So if we are patient enough more in Nigeria, I think now we are getting there.
And that’s why we are seeing a lot of positive things like this.
“Before, as a nation in Kyrgyzstan, they usually trade with the European partners. Before things get to them, they will first of all go through Europe or go through Asia.
They are the largest economy in Central Asia. But now they want a direct bilateral relationship. It will really, really have a very solid positive impact in our GDP, in so many areas.
“I give example of cocoa. They don’t plant cocoa, but they don’t even buy directly from Nigeria. They go to Europe to buy.
“They don’t even plant cocoa in Europe. They will plant it here. It’s not only oil and gas.
Several diversity programs that we are doing, that are in place. I am very positive a lot of millions of Nigerians, Nigerian youth, will feel the impact of what we are doing.”
Also, Dr. Aware Akubo, a private sector player in oil and gas sector stressed the need for collaboration between both countries.
“Because for a country such as Kazakhstan, with a very large land mass and very few population, they have a lot to offer. They have come into the room with various technologies, ranging from agriculture to satellites, constellations, to oil and gas application, they have also oil reserves, gas to power, gas to oil resources, to fertilizer, and so on and so forth,” he explained.
He aleo said what is needed is to create a platform forbetter collaboration as there are opportunities for both countries.
He said: “The system, the Nigerian economy is really going in a very good shape, courtesy of the various reforms that the president has actually put in place. So what is required now is a strengthening of that relationship, having all the bilateral activities, and actually nipping them. They’ve also mentioned a lot about digital transformation, about e-governance, and so on and so forth.
“Again, my view is that government alone cannot do it. We need to move away from inherited resources to made resources. Resources that we can create.
“It is not enough to have an oil and gas, but it is important for us to transform the oil and gas to other products that will actually increase our, what we call, activity ratios. So, productivity and competitiveness is what this country needs. It is not about the number of youths you have, but how those youths are used to create value from a raw material perspective to a finished product.
“And so, at the end of the day, we will become a net exporter of resources. So, how will the private sector in Nigeria harness these opportunities? So the foundation of relationship is the government. And you see, bilateral relationship of this nature talks about platform, talks about assets.”
