The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) has said nine Russian companies have declared interest to invest the sum of $500 million in the manufacturing sector.
Chairman, NIDO, Sampson Uwem-Edimo, who spoke ahead of the Russia-Nigeria Business Conference, said the group would work to improve investment inflows into Nigeria
“No investment happens without trade; the trade volume between Nigeria and Russia today is around half a billion dollars; sometimes, it gets to a billion dollars;” Uwem-Edimo said.
According to Uwem-Edimo, it is a very small amount for this kind of business, and for Russia and Nigeria that have more than $3 trillion market.
“What we want to do is to see how we can improve the volume of trade between the two countries within the next two years. We do not just want trade, but we want it to lead to investment in terms of manufacturing.
“So, we are not only looking at these nine companies but using them as a test run to see the response from the Nigerian side.
“Ultimately, we hope that within the next three years, we can get between 30 and 40 Russian companies making some sort of manufacturing in Nigeria,” he said.
Uwem-Edimo added that the conference would hold today in Moscow, Russia, citing that it would deepen ties between the business communities of both countries, while also enabling both economies to understand their markets.
Vice-President, Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Suren Vardanyan, said: “Our goal is to triple the trade volume within the next two years and bring direct partnership in the area of manufacturing, as the Russian companies can collaborate with new or existing Nigerian companies for expansion or creation of production plants.”
