German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting Nigeria this weekend, hoping to broaden economic cooperation between the two nations, but specifically, aiming to ramp up Nigeria energy supplies to the country.
Scholz will visit Nigeria on Sunday and Monday, and will meet President Bola Tinubu, according to the German embassy in Nigeria.
“They are natural partners as both are the strongest economy and the most populous country on their respective continents.
“This visit intends to accentuate Germany’s appreciation for the strong partnership over the years, and underlines the importance the German government places in Nigeria’s role in the region and globally,” the embassy said in a note on Thursday.
Scholz will also meet with ECOWAS commission president, Omar Touray in Abuja, and will travel to Lagos where he will open a Nigeria-German Business Conference organized by the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce.
While in Lagos, he will interface with representatives of Nigerian civil society as well as with Nigerian start-up entrepreneurs.
Africa tone and oil connection
The visit is part of a wider German effort to “set a new tone on dealing with countries in Africa”, the country’s broadcaster DW said.
As Olaf Scholz arrives in Nigeria for what will be his third trip to Africa since taking office almost two years ago, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be in Tanzania and Zambia on Monday for talks.
Last year, the German development ministry pledged €100 million ($105) to Nigeria over two years to support small and medium-sized enterprises, help with agriculture, expand the renewable energy sector and promote women’s employment.
Oil and gas supply, as well as labour issues, are central to the Africa reach-out, Reuters reported.
Oil is Nigeria’s single largest export to Germany. Now, German officials want Nigeria to also sell gas to the country as it comes under pressure from the Russia-Ukraine war and amid threats of instability in the middle east amid Israel-Hamas war.
After Russia’s invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Germany turned to Qatar for the liquefied gas it needs to fuel its industries.
The prospect of a regional crisis and resultant impact on energy supply is pushing countries to diversify sources.
“Oil-exporting countries face the question of whether they want to flare all that gas off or use it,” a German official said in connection with the visit. “We are very open to discussing with Nigeria whether we can buy gas too.”
Analyst say Germany may also see Nigeria, with a population of 200 million, and Ghana, with 30 million, as sources of the labour that Germany badly needs as its own population increasingly ages out of the workforce.
“Especially in Ghana there are IT experts that German medium-sized companies are desperate to get hold of,” Stefan Liebing, a consultant and former head of the German African Business Association, told Reuters.
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