Declaring opening the 10th edition of the Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission (BNC), at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, expressed the strong dissatisfaction of the Nigerian business community of the business imbalances.
“I strongly suspect that in the course of your deliberations, there will be strong complaints from Nigerians who want something done about the balance of business opportunities and penetration between Nigerian and South African businesses. They, and a considerable number of Nigerians, are concerned that our bilateral relations have yielded enormous benefits for South African entrepreneurs with investments in Nigeria, while there are little or no opportunities for Nigerians to do real business in South Africa,” Jonathan said.
He added further “others have even accused South Africaauthorities of erecting discriminatory obstacles against Nigeria businesses in South Africa. Indeed, some Nigerians have questioned the very rationale for the BNC if our relations and the benefits they confer are so skewed; and , if South African authorities are engaged in alleged acts of discriminations against Nigerian visitors, residents and businesses in South Africa,” he noted.
He blamed the limited involvement of both countries’ organised private sector for the little failure of the inter-ministerial agreements signed between both countries.
“Agreements between government ministries and departments are of little or no effect without the introduction of investable private capital. It is for this reason that we have seized the opportunity of this anniversary to bring together business leaders from our two countries to deliberate on how they can give teeth to the agreements signed by the government of Nigeria and South Africa,” Jonathan stated.
Vice President Jonathan however urged participants at the conference to come up with practicable solutions to the problem. “Not engaging with one another is not an option. Engage we must; with mutual respect as partners in progress, with mutual appreciation as brothers and with common purpose of improving the lives of the citizens of South Africa and Nigeria and the people of African continent”.
He stated that agreements between services such as Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Customs, the Standards Organizations, the Intelligence and Security outfits have proved more functional than those between line-function ministries and departments.
In his own address, Bamanga Tukur President, the African Business Roundtable and chairman of NEPAD Business Group, called on the South Africa Electricity Regulatory Association to explore the opportunities for cooperation in the supply of power to Nigeria.
Tukur disclosed that the African Business Roundtable and NEPAD Business Group had signed an MOU with the Global E- Management System of the United States of America to utilize ECOMARINE SEATRADE to realize the objectives of linking up the shipping Route between Nigeria and South Africa.
Part of the success of the BNC in the area of air services include Bellview Airlines’ three weekly direct flights between Lagos and Johannesburg, Arik Airlines daily flights on the same route while South African Airways also operates daily flights between the two cities.
The Nigeria South Africa Bi-National Commission BNC was established in Abuja on 4th of October, 1999, to articulate and promote trade relations between Nigeria and South Africa and has so far discussed some 33 agreements, protocols and memorandum of understanding (MOUs) out of which 22 have been signed.
The theme of the 10 year celebration is “Nigeria and South Africa in partnership for a better Africa”.