Nigeria’s Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said trade with South Africa was unfairly tilted in favour of the latter.
Jonathan spoke as the two largest economies in sub-Saharan African kicked off celebrations to mark a decade of bilateral ties under the aegis of the Nigeria/South Africa Bi-National Commission
(BNC).
He said concerns are that bilateral relations have yielded enormous benefits for South African entrepreneurs with investment in Nigeria while there were little or no opportunities for Nigerians to do real business in the Southern African country.
“Some Nigerians have questioned the very rationale for the BNC if our relations and the benefits they confer are so skewed and if South African authorities are engaged in alleged acts of discrimination against Nigerian visitors, residents and businesses in South Africa,” he said.
Business people from the two countries opened talks on Friday to seek ways to level the playing field.
“I strongly suspect that in the course of your deliberations, there will be strong complaints from Nigerians who want something done about the balance of business opportunities,” he said.
South African Vice-President Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to address the forum on Saturday.
Official sources in South Africa say more than 100 South African companies operate in Nigeria, a jump from only four before 1999.
The largest of them are in banking, telecommunications, retail and the entertainment business.
No figures of Nigerian outfits that have set up shop in South African were readily available.
South Africa, one of the continent’s largest oil consumers, gets most of its crude requirements from the Middle East, yet Nigeria is one of Africa’s two top oil producers.
South Africa’s Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Bongi Maria Ntuli said that Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is her country’s second largest trading partner on the continent.
“As an open economy, we welcome new investment and collaborative partnerships in key areas of opportunity — all uniquely poised to deliver real competitive advantage,” Ntuli said.
The suspected involvement of Nigerians in crimes in South Africa — from internet scams to the production of fake South African identity cards, passports, immigration and marriage documents — is one of the sore points in relations between the two countries. – AFP