The European Union has suggested diversification of Nigeria’s south-south economy within the oil and gas sector, which it believes is still viable despite the drop in crude oil prices.
The EU’s suggestion was conveyed by the head of the European Union delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Ambassador Michel Arrion, the EUObserver reported.
He spoke at a meeting organized by the Rivers Entrepreneurs and investments forum in Port Harcourt, the capital of the state in south-south Nigeria.
After the meeting, Arrion told Channels Television that the EU was aware of the problem caused by the dwindling oil prices.
“But I would be cautious about the idea of diversifying the economy. I think oil and gas is still a good business for the economy of the south-south.
“So, making the oil and gas market work better, improving the framework, fixing the problem of gas, petrochemicals, working on the infrastructures in the oil and gas sector, working on the ports, developing it further, for me, is one element for relaunching the economy of the region. Consider diversifying within the oil and gas sector,” he said.
Arrion suggested that the region could consider diversification in the areas of petrochemical, refinery, the value chain or the fertilizer that is made out of gas.
One of the targets of the Nigerian government at the moment is to shift the economy’s mainstay away from crude oil reliance to agriculture, solid mineral mining and other sectors that hold huge untapped potentials.
Considering diversification in the oil and gas sector as suggested by the EU envoy would be another gain to the nation with the largest economy in Africa.
On the ECOWAS regional economy, the EU also suggested that there must be a more efficient integration among member countries of ECOWAS to grow the economy of the region, in which Nigeria must play a prominent role.
In another report on Monday, EU clarified that it did not ban the export of several agricultural products from Nigeria, as wrongly stated in some national newspapers.
Head of Trade and Economics Section of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, Filippo Amato, said, while admitting that there were a number of food products (such as melon seeds, dried meat, palm oil) imported from Nigeria that were sometimes rejected at the EU border because they were found to contain dangerous substances for human health.
Amato said the import suspension measure adopted by the EU only concerned dried beans.
