Nigeria, Germany Strengthen Economic Ties At 11th German-Nigerian Business Forum In Lagos

The 11th German-Nigeria Business Forum which took place on Monday, at the Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Nigeria, was themed “Building Effective Partnerships for Successful Business Development.” The event was organised by the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, in collaboration with the German-African Business Association.

The forum gathered high-ranking officials, decision-makers, and business leaders from both Nigeria and Germany to foster discourse on enhancing bilateral trade relations. It highlighted the growing collaboration between the two nations, particularly in the fields of renewable energy, agribusiness, construction, and vocational training.

The event had sponsors, with Lagos Free Zone being the Platinum Sponsor, Tropical General Investments Group being the Gold Sponsor and FAUN Kirchhoff Group being the Silver Sponsor. Other sponsors were Siemens Energy, Nivea, Stren & Blan Partners, Evonik, Access bank, Krones, Lagos Continental and Deutsche Bank.

In her opening remarks, the host, Ifunanya Igwe celebrated the strengthening economic and cultural ties between Nigeria and Germany. She noted the presence of prominent figures such as Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, represented by the secretary to the state government, Joseph Eboigbe, as well as representatives to the governors of Abia, Osun and Lagos state, and German Consul General Veert Boerner.

Bastian Lidzba, the President of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, took to the podium to give a welcome address, during which he acknowledged the sponsors of the event and thanked the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs for their continued support. Lidzba emphasised the importance of fostering partnerships to strengthen the economic relationship between the two countries.

Igbuan Okaiasabor, President of the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce, underscored the importance of partnerships in key sectors such as manufacturing, energy, and information technology. He called on participants to be proactive in seeking new opportunities for collaboration. “I encourage everyone here to be proactive in seeking new opportunities for collaboration, to remain open to learning from each other to work together with a long term vision,” he said.

The forum featured keynote addresses from the state representatives present. These speeches underscored the importance of collaboration in addressing challenges such as infrastructure deficits, skills gaps, and economic diversification.

There were panel discussions addressing critical sectors such as agribusiness, renewable energy, construction, and vocational education. Industry experts discussed strategies for strengthening Nigeria’s agribusiness industry, enhancing energy efficiency, and improving vocational training programs to create scalable and sustainable initiatives.

In a “fireside chat” session, panelists explored how German-Nigerian business relations could benefit from international financial institutions, focusing on facilitating access to finance for entrepreneurs and businesses.

The forum also served as a platform for connecting German companies with Nigerian opportunities. Adesua Ladoja, CEO of Lagos Free Zone, noted that trade volumes between Germany and Nigeria had surpassed $3 billion in 2023, with over 90 German companies now operating in Nigeria. She highlighted the importance of initiatives like the forum in fostering mutually beneficial partnerships.

The Consul General of the German Consulate, Veert Boerner, described the event as one of the most important annual business gatherings saying, “This is an annual event, this German-Nigeria Business forum is one of the most important business events during the year, where many companies, including governement represenatives and associations, can meet to improve Nigerian-German business relations. This forum is a get-together once a year, but every second year in Nigeria, the other year in Germany. So, it’s trying to draw more companies from both sides into the bi-lateral business relationship and to focus on certain issues like agriculture, construction, energy and environment. We hope that not only trade between the two countries will grow, but also that more companies from Germany invest in Nigeria. We already have a lot of companies who invest and build factories, and that more and more jobs are created in Nigeria for young Nigerians by German companies and this trend we want to increase.”

The head of Market Entry at the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce Nigeria, Deborah Egerue, explained the forum’s role in addressing sector-specific challenges and opportunities. She highlighted the focus on key areas such as agribusiness, energy, construction, and vocational training, reflecting Nigeria’s efforts to diversify its economy beyond oil dependence.

She said, “Nigeria is a very important trading partner for Germany. Germany is a manufacturing economy while Nigeria is a consuming economy. What this forum aims to achieve is to create a platform that brings business people together, especially people that have business interest in Germany and in Nigeria, so we create the platform, bring them together to talk about selected sectors. What we do is we select certain sectors, like four to six sectors, we address these sectors and we address the opportunies, challenges that are inherent in such sectors and we get experts in these sectors to address these challenges and they try to profer solutions to these challenges. We organise this platform that brings both the private sector and the public sector. The private sector is coming in from the business angle of things while the public sector is coming from the regulation point of view, policy point of view.”

As the event concluded, participants reflected on the potential for future collaboration. The director General of the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce, Marilyn Rapu, expressed optimism about the forum’s role in creating jobs and fostering business connections between the two nations, saying, “For us at the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce, we try and create a platform where we can foster business between Nigeria and Germany and today we partnered with the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria (AHK). We are happy to partner with them to bring this conference and business forum to you today. This event is supposed to help us make more connections, more collaborations, more partnerships that will bring businesses together, create jobs. We are hoping that this would grow the economy. We are hoping that this brings comapanies stogether to share knowledge, particularly as German technology is quite high tech and very cutting-edge right now.”

As Germany and Nigeria continue to strengthen their economic ties, events like the German-Nigeria Business Forum play a crucial role in fostering mutual understanding, encouraging investment, and paving the way for sustainable economic growth in both nations.

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