Court declaration of me” Wanted” is simply To Embarrass My Personality- Innoson.

I have been briefed by my lawyers that Justice Mojisola Dada of Lagos State High Court Ikeja granted the oral plea of counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to declare me wanted because of my failure to appear before the court today. I have expressly stated before that I am not afraid of arraignment but must be arraigned through due process of the law.

It must be noted that I, through my legal counsel, challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos State High Court to hear the forgery charge filed against me by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on ground of, inter alia, the charge being an abuse of process. I filed an application before the court that this present charge is an abuse of process because a similar charge on the same subject matter, transactions and issues is ongoing at the Federal High Court Lagos Division between the same parties, in charge no FHC/l/565c/2015. The last hearing of the charge at the Federal High Court was this week, May 22nd 2018.

Furthermore, my legal counsel had at the last court hearing on April 25th 2018 notified the court that I had challenged the Jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division and that the prosecuting counsels which are the EFCC has equally filed their brief at the Appellate Court. The judge subsequently adjourned the hearing to today, May 24th 2018.

At the court hearing today, my defense team, also, notified the judge that both parties have filed and exchanged their briefs at the Court of Appeal and a date has been fixed for hearing of the substantive appeal and prayed the Honourable Judge to defer to the Court of Appeal to decide the appeal which is on the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit. Again, my legal team notified the trial court that I had appealed against the order of bench warrant of 9th February 2018 to the Court of Appeal and as well filed a motion for stay of execution of the order of bench warrant.

However, the judge failed to grant the prayers of my legal counsel and quickly granted the plea of the prosecuting counsel to declare me wanted without recourse to due process of the law or listen to the submissions of my counsel on why an order declaring me wanted should not be made.

Declaring me wanted was done in bad faith and is simply to embarrass my personality, defame me and malign my character aimed to distract me from my daily activities in ensuring that Innoson Vehicles continues to produce durable made in Nigeria vehicles.

Recall also that the same Judge had issued a bench warrant against me, while I had challenged the jurisdiction of her court to hear the suit and I also wrote a petition to the National Judicial Council to investigate the circumstance leading to issuing a bench warrant against me and ordering my arrest. In the course of this case, I had filed a motion that the judge recuse or disqualify herself from further conduct of the proceedings which she failed to hear and insisted I must be brought to court against laid down judicial authorities.

Finally I want to expressly state that I am not afraid of arraignment but must be arraigned through the due process of the law. Meanwhile, I have also appealed against the order declaring me wanted and as well filed a motion for the stay of its execution.

Cornel Osigwe
Head, Corporate Communications
Innoson Group

AJAOKUTA STEEL: NATASHA’S PARADOX.

After going through the submission of the Mines and Steel Development Minister Kayode Fayemi in response to the issues raised by Natasha Akpoti on the privatisation of Ajaokuta Steel Company and others in the sector, we raise the following posers for her:

 “Natasha Akpoti's speech before the House of Representatives on 3/3/2018 is a reminder – albeit unwittingly so – of the substantial cost of the spate of terminations.”
“Ms Akpoti has told us that our breach of the contract with the Russians in the past cost *Nigeria $2.5 billion USD.*”

“Natasha reminds us that the Obasanjo administration procured the termination of the SOLGAS concession and then proceeded to award the terminated concessions to Global. This second termination led to a claim of *over $3.5 billion* USD brought by Solgas against Nigeria in a London arbitration. Solgas succeeded in its case of wrongful termination and recovered substantial damages.”

“Natasha Akpoti reminds us that the Yar'Adua administration terminated in 2008 the arrangements with Global and that upon this third termination Global took Nigeria to arbitration in London in 2008.”
Natasha Akpoti reminds us that the Goodluck Jonathan government started Settlement Negotiations with Global. “Building on this Honourable Minister Dr Kayode Fayemi in August 2016 executed the modified NIOMCO Concession Agreement as part of a settlement agreement *to end this dispute and stop the haemorrhaging of the treasury.*

“The settlement achieved delivered the following: (a) *a waiver of damages on the part of Global* in respect of the Ajaokuta and NIOMCO terminations so that Global does not collect a kobo from the Nigerian taxpayer; (b) *a relinquishment by Global of the contractual right to the shares of Ajaokuta Steel Company*); and (c) *a modification of the NIOMCO concession* reducing its duration and increasing the concession fees payable to the FGN from 3% to 4% of turnover.”
**Fayemi’s Plaster*: *The settlement agreement is Fayemi’s plaster to stop our bleeding.

*Question 1:* is this plaster to be removed by terminating a 4th time? Have we learnt no lessons from the previous terminations.
*Natasha’s paradox:* Natasha wants us to terminate a 4th time!

*Question 2:* Who pays the resultant damages? Natasha or you the taxpayer?
*Natasha’s Answer: *“_Nigeria must be ready for sanctions. That is one thing I'm going to say. It is not easy to go against the Western block. We must be ready for sanctions because at the end of the day, we must dream of a big great Nigeria because for all its worth, trade is always better than aid_.”

*Fayemi’s Answer: *“Nigeria has incurred sufficient debts (through rampant terminations) to have built multiple steel plants. To repeat our spate of terminations a fourth time and abrogate the very settlement agreement designed to halt the haemorrhaging of our national treasury would be a tragedy of epic proportions.”

*Solving the Puzzle of Natasha’s Paradox:* Her private interest is the reason why she recognises the history of costly termination and yet wishes to add a 4th termination.
*Who loses:* the taxpayer

SEE FULL TEXT OF DR KAYODE FAYEMI’S SUBMISSION.


BRIEFING TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON AJAOKUTA STEEL/NIOMCO.

The Ajaokuta and NIOMCO projects have added vast amounts to our national debt. This is because successive governments conclude contracts that are then terminated without regard to the cost to the taxpayer occasioned
by the damages payable for a wrongful and premature termination. The FGN has terminated on three occasions concession contracts with respect to Ajaokuta/NIOMCO.

Natasha Akpoti’s speech before the House of Representatives on 3/3/2018 is a reminder – albeit unwittingly so – of the substantial cost of the spate of terminations. Ms Akpoti has told us that our breach of the contract with the Russians in the past cost Nigeria $2.5 billion USD. The salient points of her speech (time stamped) are reproduced below:

“Ms Akpoti has told us that our breach of the contract with the Russians in the past cost Nigeria $2.5 billion USD.”

“Natasha reminds us that the Obasanjo administration procured the termination of the SOLGAS concession and then proceeded to award the terminated concessions to Global. This second termination led to a claim of over $3.5 billion USD brought by Solgas against Nigeria in a London arbitration. Solgas succeeded in its case of wrongful termination and recovered substantial damages.”

“Natasha Akpoti reminds us that the Yar’Adua administration terminated in 2008 the arrangements with Global and that upon this third termination Global took Nigeria to arbitration in London in 2008.”

Natasha Akpoti reminds us that the Goodluck Jonathan government started Settlement Negotiations with Global.

“Building on this, Honourable Minister Dr Kayode Fayemi in August 2016 executed the modified NIOMCO Concession Agreement as part of a settlement agreement to end this dispute and stop the haemorrhaging of the treasury.

“The settlement achieved delivered the following:

[6.31] “In 1994 when the Russians left, it was then under the Soviet Union and the company called TyazhprpmExport. When they left in 1994, Ajaokuta was 98.2% completed.” [6.53] “When they left, it was largely because Nigeria fell short on its contractual agreement.” [30.41] “By the time the Russians left in 1994, Nigeria was owing them close to a billion Dollars”. [34.09] “Russia waved away over $400m USD and said, you know what, you are a struggling country, you are a small country, just pay $500m USD and forget about the rest. While on the other hand, the Abacha administration told Nigeria that the Russians insisted on the money on the nearly 1 billion and apart from that, there were debt incurred upon the debt buy-back so that amounted to 2.5 billion USD. So that means, $2.5 billion was taken from our reserves while only $500m was paid.”
As Ms Akpoti states below another round of contract signing and termination ensued just after 2001:

[7.13]“Nigerians should know that we have several times had good opportunities to have the steel sector running. The very first was in 2001 under President Olusegun Obasanjo… [11.35] Ajaokuta Steel and NIOMCO, which is the Iron Ore Mining Company in Itakpe were given to a company called SOLGAS … [12.34] [SOLGAS] went to India and brought in ISPAT, which is known today as Global Infrastructures Nigeria Ltd.”
The Obasanjo administration procured the termination of the SOLGAS concession and then proceeded to award the terminated concessions to Global. This second termination led to a claim of over $3.5 billion USD brought by Solgas against Nigeria in a London arbitration. Solgas succeeded in its case of wrongful termination and recovered substantial damages.

As Ms Akpoti states below the Yar’Adua administration terminated in 2008 the arrangements with Global.

[13.30] “On the 2nd of April, 2008, at the Federal Executive Council, the Federal Executive Council met and Late Yar’Adua terminated the [GLOBAL] concession. I quote Late Yar’Adua, “After considering the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry established by the Yar’Adua administration to review the concession agreement and determine the extent of compliance by both parties, the Council agreed with its findings that the agreement was largely skewed in favour of the concessionaire to the detriment of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Upon this third termination Global took Nigeria to arbitration in London in 2008. The government of Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 on counsel’s advice – after 4 years in arbitration – sought to halt any further risk to the treasury by engaging in settlement discussions within the ICC ADR framework – 1 Counsel to the FGN had pointed out as follows:

“The FGN terminated the ASCL‐SPA too early with the consequence that the Respondent lost the following rights under cl.12 of the ASCL‐SPA: (i) the right to recover over $26m as liquidated damages; and (ii) the right to rescind lawfully. Cl.12 of the ASCL‐SPA had imposed an obligation on Global to pay by 25 May 2008 the sum of $162m (for the contractual right to the 60% shares which it had acquired). This was the first instalment of the consideration for the purchase of the shares. It is likely that Global would not have paid by 25 May 2008. It certainly had not paid by April. By terminating the contract one month too soon Respondent lost a vital advantage and scored an “own” goal.)” us ensuring institutional transparency – under the auspices of Mr Phillip Howell-Richardson. By 1 May 2013 a settlement agreement was reached. The elements of that settlement involved the following 3 aspects:

(a) a waiver of damages on the part of Global in respect of the Ajaokuta and NIOMCO terminations so that Global does not collect a kobo from the Nigerian taxpayer (it is worth pointing out that the very Presidential Committee that advised the Yar’Adua Government to terminate the Ajaokuta arrangements had estimated damages payable to Global in the region of $525m USD2
and this did not include the damages in respect of the NIOMCO termination);

(b) a relinquishment of the contractual right to the shares of Ajaokuta Steel Company (i.e., the Share Purchase Agreement was mutually terminated without the payment of compensation to Global); and

(c) a modification of the NIOMCO concession reducing its duration and increasing the concession fees payable to the FGN from 3% to 4% of turnover.

The settlement agreement of 1 May 2013 required the FGN to implement it. Honourable Minister Dr Kayode Fayemi, being bound to implement the settlement agreement and its agreed elements, initiated the formal execution of the modified NIOMCO Concession Agreement. This was done under the auspices of, His Excellency, The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, in August 2016. This is why the agreement that was signed in August 2016 was in substance the very agreement reached by the previous administration that was aimed at rebalancing it further in favour of Nigeria. This was what the settlement agreement of 1 May 2013 required.

The Paradox

Against this background of rampant costly terminations Ms Akpoti has now called upon the House of Representatives to require the termination of the NIOMCO Modified Concession Agreement. She stated:

[36.46] “So I am going to read the conclusions we have put. That one: This Honourable House considers that the NIOMCO’s re-concession of August 1st to Global Infrastructures Nigeria Limited or Global Steel Holdings and however they are called, be terminated with immediate effect.”
If a fourth termination occurs it will end the modified NIOMCO concession and the settlement agreement that birthed it. The arbitration will re-start and damages will be calculated under the previous NIOMCO
concession agreement (with its longer duration and lower concession fees) as well as under the Ajaokuta agreements. There will also be damages for breach of the settlement agreement itself. Terminating the settlement is the equivalent of removing a plaster meant to halt a haemorrhage and looking askance at the inevitable bleeding. However, Ms Akpoti bizarrely provides the following advice:

[42.36] “Nigeria must be ready for sanctions. That is one thing I’m going to say. It is not easy to go against the Western block. We must be ready for sanctions because at the end of the day, we must dream of a big great Nigeria because for all its worth, trade is always better than aid.”
Nigeria has incurred sufficient debts (through rampant terminations) to have built multiple steel plants. To repeat our spate of terminations a fourth time and abrogate the very settlement agreement designed to halt the haemorrhaging of our national treasury would be a tragedy of epic proportions. The House of Representatives is full of Honourable men and women chosen by the electorate to support the Federal Executive through its legislative output in discharging its mandate to govern. They must not abdicate this responsibility nor use their oversight function to impermissibly intrude upon executive matters to disastrous effect.

2 The Presidential Committee on the Review of the Sale and Purchase/Concession Agreement of ASCL, NIOMCO and Delta Steel Company Limited was set up to review the Findings and Recommendations of the Administrative Panel of Enquiry set up by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on Developments in the Nation’s Steel Industry.


The Presidential Committee advised that the agreements be terminated at great cost to the nation. Paragraph 3.15 of the report estimates damages payable to Global if termination proceeds (the very termination the report called for). “The referral and necessary defence of this action in the UK is likely to attract significant costs in legal fees… Any costs likely to be incurred must and should be weighed against the potential damages payable to Global, which according to the agreement could be in the range of $300‐$525 million”.

GROUP WRITES REPS, BUHARI, ALLEGES HOUSE WAS MISLED OVER AJAOKUTA , NIOMCO CONCESSION.

AIF Media

.....The Union says GINL rehabilitated and put Ajaokuta Steel into operation after 10 years of abandonment by Nigerian govt.

A group of stakeholders in the steel sector of the Nigerian economy has stated that the submissions of some of the people that appeared before the House Committee that recently probed the concession of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) were mostly based on semantics and emotional sentiments rather than reality and facts on ground.

The group therefore asked the government to find competent private investors to operate the steel companies as obtained in other parts of the world, noting that successive indigenous managements have proved that they cannot effectively operate the steel companies which they said have gulped billions of Dollars in the last three decades.
In an open letter to the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives dated 26th March, 2018, which they also copied President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister and Steel Minister Kayode Fayemi, the National Union of Steel Marketers and End Users of Nigeria (NUSMEUSN) also noted that some of those that appeared before the House were sympathetic to the current operators of Delta Steel Company (DSC) Warri, adding that DSC needs Iron Ore from NIOMCO to function, therefore the reason why Global Infrastructures Nigeria Limited (GINL) was being harassed and maligned.

The group therefore stated that the campaign by some people for the termination of the reconcession granted GINL was to chase the company away in order to pave way for Premium Steel Company to take over NIOMCO.
According to the group, the House did not give adequate publicity to the public hearing it conducted on the steel sector, regretting that the Union could not make a presentation as it has done in the past, therefore the reason for the open letter.
“However, we want to state that in spite of the honesty and integrity that many Nigerians know Mr. Speaker with, most of the people that appeared and made presentations before the House Committee only fed you with fancy talks and semantics that were far from facts and realities. This is so because we have taken time to watch the proceedings on videos recorded by the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and others obtained from Youtube.
“Mr. Speaker, most of those that made presentations before you and the Hon. Members were sympatric to Premium Steel and Mines Limited which is currently operating Delta Steel Company Aladja in Delta Steel. Please note Sir, that Premium Steel is owned by the Vaswani brothers that have been deported out of Nigeria by many Federal administrations including the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and that of President Muhammadu Buhari on allegations of many sorts of economic crimes,” the letter stated.

What is at stake Mr. Speaker is that Premium Steel cannot effectively operate Delta Steel without Iron Ore which is the primary raw material needed to run a steel plant. The game therefore is to terminate the re-concession granted Global Infrastructures Nigeria Limited on the National Iron Ore Mining Company NIOMCO, Itakpe so that Premium Steel can open discussion on the need for it to have NIOMCO in order to begin the production of Steel out of Delta Steel. Therefore all the arguments and dramatisation that took place by those claiming to love Ajaokuta more than others are coated around that singular objective to get Global Infrastructures Nigeria Limited out of the way so that Premium Steel can take over NIOMCO. But like Bob Marley sang many years ago, “You can fool some of the people sometimes but you can’t fool all the people all of the times,” the group said.
Going back memory lane, the group said that the Russians that built Ajaokuta Steel Company left in 1994 and that for 10 years after their exit, Ajaokuta was abandoned by the Nigerian government while billions of Naira was paid by the government to the over 3,500 workers annually, until GINL came, resuscitated and put the company into effective operation, just within three months of takeover.

“From 1994 up to 2004 the plant site lay prostrate as there were no productive activities there. Yet, the Federal Government was paying monthly wage bill of about 3,500 workers of the company amounting to N285 million which comes to (about N3.4billion annually). Then President Olusegun Obasanjo out of frustration and based on expert advice that Nigerians cannot operate the plant effectively decided to concession it alongside NIOMCO and to privatise Delta Steel.

“Ajaokuta was first concessioned to SOLGAS promoted by Thomas Russell, an American. SOLGAS could not muster the financial resources to fund the operation of the plant so the agreement with SOLGAS was terminated. SOLGAS went to arbitration and made a lot of money out of Nigeria. Global Infrastructures Nigeria Limited then came and after negotiations, Obasanjo approved that Ajaokuta be concessioned to them. Therefore, it is not true as some people told the probe committee that GINL came to Nigeria as technical partners to SOLGAS. NIOMCO was also concessioned to GINL because it would need Iron Ore to operate Ajaokuta.
 
“Three months after GINL took over Ajaokuta Steel was resuscitated and put into effective operation by them, same with NIOMCO. GINL also took over the payment of the salaries of the 3,500 and over 2,600 workers of NIOMCO. For the three years GINL operated Ajaokuta and NIOMCO, the company was paying a total of N5.2billion annual salaries of workers of the two plants which was a great relief for the Federal Government. Since the termination of the concession granted GINL by Late President Yar’adua, government is the one paying these humongous salaries till date. The Ministry of Solid Minerals is there to supply you these figures,” the letter stated.

The group blamed late President Yar’Adua for terminating the concession in the first place, saying that the Yar’Adua  was carried away by the noise of the so called activists clamouring for the reversal of every policy put in place by Obasanjo.
The letter reads, “Late President Yar’Adua came to office and began with his Rule of Law and Due Process mantras, people who call themselves activists began to send in hundreds of petitions against concession and privatisation. Most of them were however agents of companies that lost out in the bidding contests conducted by Obasanjo. So Yar’Adua then terminated the concession on Ajaokuta and NIOMCO alongside that of Refineries granted to Dangote as well as that of Aluminium Smelter Plant ASCON. Mr. Speaker you can imagine where Nigeria would have been by now if Dangote was allowed to operate Nigerian refineries from then to now, if GINL was still operating Ajaokuta and NIOMCO up till today, the same with ASCON. It was the termination of the Ajaokuta concession that put all our Union members out of business with no remedy as not even one pin has been produced from there ever since,” the Union stated, adding that such a unilateral termination had gave and injurious consequences against Nigeria.

 “Yar’Adua terminated Ajaokuta/NIOMCO concessions on two grounds: One, that GINL did not meet set targets on volume of production and completion of plant site and second, that GINL stripped assets of the plant. GINL in defence stated that the concession agreement gave some obligations to the Federal Government which include but not limited to dredging of the Escravos River and completion of railway lines among others, stressing that the failure of the government to execute its own obligations frustrated its efforts as those were of critical essence. On assets stripping, GINL said it borrowed only consumables and not equipments as was the practiced internationally since Ajaokuta, NIOMCO and Delta (which was privatised to them) were integrated steel plants meant to depend on one another for their operations. It also said those consumables were even brought to Ajaokuta by GINL while it was rehabilitating the plant, adding that all the consumables borrowed received the approval of the supervising Ministry. It was because of the approvals that made Nigeria not to tender the documents on assets stripping at the London arbitration court,”  the group wrote.
Continuing, the Union stated that “Contrary to the impression created at the House probe, Nigeria was on the heat on the case because of the two important factors stated above, that Federal Government had obligations which was not fulfilled and consequently affected GINL’s target as well as the approvals given to GINL to borrow consumables from Ajaokuta for use in Delta Steel. It was on those premises that the previous administration decided to go for out of court settlement to free Ajaokuta of legal encumbrances.
“It is self contradictory to say that Nigeria having paid Russia its own debt can tell GINL to go to hell on their claims. Since Nigeria opted for out of court settlement and the agreement entered at the London court, every lawyer would know the consequences of breaching the terms. It should also be known to Nigeria that huge interest has been accruing on the debt in Dollars.

“When he took over as Minister for Solid Minerals and Steel Development under the current President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, Kayode Fayemi, after analysing the cost implications of the case at the London arbitration as put before him by a committee set up for that purpose, got approval from the presidency to execute the original out-of-court settlement, the condition being the re-concession of NIOMCO to GINL to operate for seven years since they had operated for three out of the 10 years contained in the first concession agreement. With the new agreement, Ajaokuta was to be freed for Nigeria to operate.
The letter countered the argument that Ajaokuta Steel was built to manufacture arms and therefore should not be privatised to foreigners, adding that most steel companies the world over are built and operated by foreign companies.
“Some people told the probe committee that it was not in the interest of Nigeria for foreigners to operate a steel company that has capacity to manufacture weapons. Ajaokuta was never designed to manufacture weapons, NEVER. Again, most steel companies around the world are operated by so called foreign companies. Then British Prime Minister sold British Steel to Tata, an Indian company. Many steel companies across Europe, Asia and parts of Africa including South Africa are owned and operated by steel companies from India. The Americans, the Chinese and the Russians among others are still building and operating steel companies in different countries across the globe without discrimination.
The Union therefore recommended that government should go ahead with concession and privatisation of the steel companies to capable private investors as is the practice internationally.

“We wish to impress on Mr. Speaker and Hon. Members of the House of Representatives that the suggestions that Nigerians can crowd fund Ajaokuta Steel Company is only funny while the most laughable recommendation was that Ajaokuta can be completed and put into operation with the so-called Abacha loot when recovered. It does sound like building castle in the air, doesn’t it?

“Nigeria should do away with primitive patriotism that does not align with global reality. The Federal Government should as a matter of fact quickly handover the steel companies to competent private investors with proven records to operate the companies. Payment of salaries of workers of the steel companies alone is enough burden on Nigerian tax payers when the companies are not even bringing in one penny to the national treasury,” the letter concluded.

Alhaji Murnil Saa’id Abubakra
National Chairman

Ekechukwu Ibe Nwoke
National Secretary

WOO BACK COMPANIES THAT RELOCATED TO GHANA- NGIGE URGES JAPANESE AMBASSADOR

The Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has appealed to the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Sadanobu Kusaoke to woo back Japanese companies that left Nigeria for Ghana and other African countries, insisting that the factors that drove them out have tremendously eased.

“Investment climate in Nigeria has improved with the firm measures already taken by this administration to shore up power supply, effectively tackle corruption and improve the safety of lives and property. These are some of the factors that drove these factories, but the iron cast resolve of the Federal Government in putting them behind us is not in doubt,”  Ngige said while welcoming the Ambassador to his office,  today.  

“The era where foreign investors lose their investments to fraudsters is over as government has ensured adequate protection for their investments and profits. So, we want you to invite Japanese companies who were here to not only come back but also invite others to invest in fertile opportunities offered in our agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors,” the Minister enthused.

“Look at the potentials in our huge rubber belt across Nigeria for example. Michelin was here but relocated to a neighboring country but the opportunities for brighter business prospects is still better in Nigeria. These companies will surely do better here under the environment we are creating.”

 Sen. Ngige said Nigeria would learn from the resilience of the Japanese to overcome the present economic challenges, urging Japan to fully tap into the improved investment climate in Nigeria.

He added that Nigeria under the present administration has looked inwards to regain lost opportunities hence, its emphasis on agriculture and mining, calling for Japanese investments and the training of extension workers in this area.  
 
The Minister urged the ambassador to increase the number of Nigerians billed for participation in the yearly training programme from fifty to a thousand so as to have a meaningful impact on a large population like Nigeria.

While regretting the trade imbalance between the two countries, he pleaded with Japan to close the gap by enabling skilled Nigerians live and work in their country under the International Labour Migration policy of the International Labour Organisation.


Earlier in his remark, Mr  Sadanobu Kusaoke pledged Japan’s more active role in Nigeria’s economic diversification programme through the expansion of its businesses into agriculture and mining. He also commended the anti-terrorism and anti-corruption efforts of the present administration as well as its determination to protect foreign investors.  


“We are very hopeful that government policy is going to do well in three important areas of anti-terrorism, anti-corruption and economic diversification. But I believe economic diversification is the area where the Japanese are most useful. We have a lot of contributions to make to the diversification of the economy,” said the Japanese Ambassador.

The Ambassador tied the job creation efforts of the Federal Government to Nigeria’s ability to expand existing businesses while creating opportunities for new ones, saying that his country would encourage more Japanese to invest in Nigeria.

“I think first of all, we want to encourage Japanese business through investment here. We want to expand our existing business in Nigeria and such expansion is the most important factor to improve the labour or employment situation. In the last one year, there are four instances of Japanese companies that have opened businesses in Nigeria in auto-motorcycle, beverage and chemical manufacturing. Some are in joint partnership with Nigerians. We want to bring in more,” Kusaoke said.

He said these businesses apart from creating employment would assist in transfer of skills to Nigerian employees. He further extended invitation to fifty Nigerians to a yearly training programme in various skills in Japan taking off August 2017.

“The programme is intended for African youths to study at Japanese Universities or colleges, with internship in Japanese companies. We have already sent invitation for fifty Nigerian men and women. The programme will ease international job migration,” he concluded.