Nigerian-British Chamber to link UK firms with Aba shoe makers 

The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) says it plans to bring down the United Kingdom-based machine suppliers to Nigeria and link them up with Aba shoe makers in order to boost the N96 billion industry.

“Look at Aba, look at the shoe industry there. All they need is machinery. We can get the British businesses  down, take them there, so that they see how to work with them regardless of what anybody  says,” said Akinola Olawore, the newly elected president of the NBCC,  at the 38th annual general meeting held last Thursday in Lagos.

“But if you have not been to a country, the bad press will mean something to you. But when you are there, you will see the money and not the press,” Olawore said.

The new president and chairman of the NBCC Council said he hoped to grow trade between Nigeria and the UK, which currently stands at £8 billion, by 100 percent.

He said the chamber would sit down and identify gaps in the economy and ensure that members tap into them, adding that the chamber would assist Nigerian exporters to the UK to raise standards of their products or commodities.

“You find that some Nigerians are unable to export their yams straight to the UK.  Rather you find people taking Nigerian yams to Ghana or Ghanaians coming to buy yams here and storing them in their warehouses, taking them to the UK from there later.

“Why is it so? All we need to do is to make sure we do it ourselves. Now we know some accredited standard bodies in the UK. We already have them here and we will work with them and see the kind of standards our produce needs to have before they are exported. We will look up to private investors to see how we can partner together to do it. We don’t want to sit down and complain. We would rather take action,” the 15th president of the NBCC said.

The event saw the election of Kayode Falowo as deputy president, Alan Davies (deputy president); Uwamai Igein (vice president); Ikenna Nwosu (vice president), and Adebisi Adeyemi (vice president), among others.

In his farewell speech, Dapo Adelegan, immediate past president of the NBCC, said the past two years had been exciting and witnessed a new and vibrant chamber, having seen the creation of new sectoral groups such as creative and entertainment group, construction and real estate group and agricuylture and export group, among others.

ODINAKA ANUDU