Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The President of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, has felicitated with India as she celebrates her 70th independent anniversary and 60years of economic relations with Nigeria.
Kayode in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, emphasised that the bilateral ties journey between the two nations, which date as far back as 1958 have moved from strength to strength and could simply be described as impressive.
He said: “On this particular occasion of the celebration of India’s 70th independent anniversary which also marks her 60 years of trade relations with Nigeria, I bring goodwill messages and felicitations to this great nation which have become a beacon of hope and aspiration to many other countries from the South which are still struggling to emancipate her citizens from the shackles of debilitating poverty and economic quagmire.
“As the largest democracy in the world, India has epitomise that rare courage and struggle for the emancipation of her population from the fangs of ignorance, illiteracy, abject poverty, disease and basic want using the highly cherished democratic ethics and good governance as stepping stones. In a similar manner, Nigeria is also the largest black nation whose contact with India has translated to strategic partnership, which has led to a mutually benefitting cooperation.”
According to him, the relationship between Nigeria and India has gone a long way in deepening the South-South cooperation which has become a mutually benefitting platform among the citizens of both nations.
In this regard, he said, Nigeria-India trade relations stood at US$10billion as at 2017 with more prospects for the future of our nation especially in areas of agriculture, science and technology, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), education, health care, energy, automobile and general manufacturing, among others.
“We have many lessons to learn from this special gift to the South specially as it has succeeded in gallantly stepping out of nations with high abject poverty index to a prosperous country whose economy is booming and has made appreciable progress in human development indices within a record timeâ€, Kayode stated.
He also stated that the recent agreement entered into by Nigeria and Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM) in agriculture and allied areas is ready to kick-off as all machineries have been put in place to ensure its effective implementation.
The ACCI President called on India to further extend her development cooperation to Nigeria in terms of equipment and finance leasing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
