Theresa May takes post-Brexit trade tour to Nigeria

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British Prime Minister Theresa May held talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.

Buhari said Brexit offers an opportunity to strengthen historic ties with London which ruled Nigeria as a colony to 1960.

"We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time," he told May."I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries."

Theresa May meets students and staff in Cape Town, August 28, 2018. /VCG Photo

Both leaders oversaw the signing of agreements on a security partnership and an economic development forum after meeting in the capital Abuja.

"This clearly highlights the two priority areas in our relationship at the moment," Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters.

He said a defense and security pact was to help tackle Nigeria's challenges such as military training, policing and human rights.

The economic forum sought "to leverage areas where we have, as countries, competitive advantages: the financial center that London is and the investment opportunities in our country, to build that up with the private sector as well as at the government level," Onyeama said.

"This is in the context of the UK's Brexit, coming out of the European Union. They feel freer now to engage with countries on a bilateral level and build up trade relations with those countries.

British Prime Minister Theresa May (back L) and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (back R) watching as British Deputy National Security Adviser Christian Turner (front L) and Nigerian National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno exchange documents following the signing of bilateral agreements on Defense and Security Partnership in Abuja, August 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

"For us, this also fits into our economic recovery and growth plan ... and so this partnership will be a framework that will achieve very much in our economic recovery and growth plan," the minister added.

May kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday pledging to prioritize investment in Africa -- although it was her diffident dance moves rather than diplomacy that captured the headlines.

The three-day tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain's global ambitions.

With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure to forge post-Brexit trade deals.

British officials are eyeing a doubling of bilateral trade with Nigeria by 2030 from the 4.2 billion British pounds (5.42 billion US dollars, 4.64 billion euros) in 2017.

After Abuja, May headed to Lagos, the economic capital, for talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.

"Modern slavery is one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time and the UK is a world leader in making it an international mission to end this heinous crime," she said in a Commonwealth statement.

A 10.5 million pound (13.5 million US dollars) aid package would target human and drug traffickers and help repatriate 1,700 Nigerian slavery victims.

(Cover: British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) being welcomed by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa (State House) in Asokoro, Abuja, August 29, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP