By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Dubai International Chamber has unveiled a new office in Lagos, Nigeria, considered Africa’s biggest city, an effort geared towards the improvement of trade between the emirate and Nigeria.
Dubai International Chamber in a statement posted on the Government of Dubai website, noted that this is the seventh office on the African continent.
According to the statement, the new office was opened during the ‘Doing Business with Nigeria’ forum organised as part of the chamber’s ‘New Horizons’ trade mission to West Africa.
“The Nigerian market is one of the largest in Africa and enables Dubai-based traders to access a wide range of markets across Central and Western Africa,” Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, said.
The staff at the office will assist Nigerian companies to enter the Dubai market as well as providing guidance to Dubai-based businesses seeking to invest in Africa’s largest economy.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Dubai to Nigeria amounted to $234.30 million between January 2018 and July 2023, the chamber said.
The food and beverage, real estate, financial services, software, IT services were among the key sectors targeted for investment during the period.
Nigerian leader, President Bola Tinubu has courted investors, including paying visits to the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year where he urged potential investors to take advantage of his administration’s elimination of foreign exchange controls.
The most populous African country is seeking to diversify its revenue generation capacity amidst burgeoning debit profile, inflation and loss of value of the local currency Naira.
The government has repeatedly said it will not consider borrowing to fund the 2024 budget due for presentation before the Parliament in December, the first to be prepared by the administration which was inaugurated in May.
