NIGERIA | Exploring Business Opportunities With Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica, October, 2021 - Nigeria is exploring opportunities for greater trade and business linkages with Jamaica, says Nigerian High Commissioner, Dr. Maureen Tamuno.

She was speaking at a virtual Service Excellence Conference held on Tuesday October 5.

High Commissioner Tamuno said that since assuming duties in June, she has had several meetings with government ministers and businesspeople to explore opportunities for increased business between the two countries.

She noted that Jamaica and Nigeria have been working to strengthen relations in trade, air services and culture since establishing diplomatic ties on April 29, 1970.

She said that the Fourth Session of the Nigeria-Jamaica Joint Commission will provide a “formidable platform for rejuvenating existing bilateral agreements and scaling up relations in critical areas of mutual interest”.

The event is scheduled to take place in Abuja, Nigeria, during the first quarter of 2022.

Among the areas of mutual interest between the countries are petroleum and energy, agriculture, trade, tourism and culture, double taxation, consular and immigration matters; establishing a Technical Aid Corps (TAC); and a new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).

High Commissioner Tamuno said that formalising a new air-service agreement would be a “win-win endeavour for both countries”.

“While Jamaica would serve as a gateway for exploring opportunities in the wider Caribbean region by Nigeria, our country would serve the same purpose for Jamaica in Africa,” she pointed out.

Further, she said that given Nigeria’s population of about 250 million people, 285 tribes and with more than 500 languages, the two countries would “work collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to strengthen ancestral and cultural affinities”.

She informed that Nigeria, in collaboration with the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), recently organised a free skills training event in head wrapping, beadmaking and batik tie and dye, for young Jamaicans and Nigerians.

The two-day Service Excellence Conference, which concludes Wednesday, is part of activities to mark National Customer Service Week from October 3 to 8, under the theme, ‘You…Me…We Got the Power of Service Excellence’.