By Rahila Dauda
The Deputy High Commissioner of Canada and Senior Trade Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Teshome Nkruma has called on the Federal Government to re-assess its regulatory regime as many start-ups are relocating to friendlier countries.
Mr. Teshome Nkruma who was a guest at a recent webinar titled Bridge Builder #8: Conversation with Global Affair Canada hosted by the Nigerian & Canadian Business Network (NCBN), said some of these companies are moving to Rawanda.
Responding to the question —“We are trying to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria, if you want to recommend us what can we do better as a government?” — posed by Chairperson of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Hon Abike Dabiri, the Deputy High Commissioner said:
“One area that excites me is the ICT start-ups. We see so much development in the start-ups. Many of these companies use their platform to expand to other countries. Nigeria has a supply chain of tech start-ups. There was one that received funding and coaching but when we speak to these start-ups they complained of the regulatory environment. Some prefer to relocate to other countries such as Rwanda. The government should look at the system of regulations, let them favour start-up companies.
“Also seed funding will go a long way. Identify a source of entrepreneurial funding.” He went further to say that his office will soon be holding panel discussions on what Nigeria can learn from other systems in term of start-ups.
Speaking about the mission of his office in Nigeria, the Deputy High Commissioner disclosed that its primary mandate is to facilitate imports from Canada to Nigeria and to also enhance partnerships and collaborations between the two countries.
According to Mr. Nkruma, any Canadian willing to do businesses in Nigeria must contact their office and they in turn will facilitate and provide useful contacts. He however stated that doing business in Nigeria can be challenging despite the tremendous potentials and opportunities in Nigeria which is the largest economy in Africa. Doing business in Nigeria he said is a platform to doing business in the continent.
Nkruma further pointed out that Nigeria is the largest source of FDI into Canada as Canadian exports to Nigeria is around $700m while exports to Canada from Nigeria is around $650m.
Canada he said is focusing on six priority sectors including:
1. Aerospace: maintenance, repair and overhaul and also Executive jet
2. Agriculture: livestock genetics, fish and sea foods
3. Clean technology
4. Education
5. ICT
6.Oil and gas
The Deputy High Commissioner said they are also working on robot programming which has become necessary due to the coming of covid-19 adding that “ if you are interested in doing business in Nigeria, you should know of:
1. The foreign exchange regime
2. Lengthy shipments delay
3. Complicated logistics
4. Funding challenges
5. High inflation
6. Slowdown in government approvals due to the forthcoming 2023 elections.”
He noted that new client attraction is also part of their priority because the large number of Nigerians in Canada is an advantage due to their knowledge and expertise. Mr. Nkrumah assured that Canada will soon be resuming bilateral negotiations and will re-establish their presence and visibility post COVID-19. Meanwhile, he added that though Canada has major competitors in Nigeria, Canadian businesses have succeeded in the country.
On how can Nigerians can utilise his position to do more business in Canada and also get access, Teshome Nkrumah said: “It is good to understand that immigration decisions are made by the office of immigration and we have a well-established visa processes though we have a backlog of visa applications. It is due to COVID-19 and the ability to process them was restricted but we are hoping that additional resources will be brought in. One should also try and understand how the Canadian process works. Don’t just rely on educational consultants. You can navigate on your own and succeed; the consultants should also help people understand further.”
But for Covid restrictions, Nigerian immigration to Canada would have perhaps quadrupled by 2022.
In 2019, Nigeria became the fourth-leading source country of new immigrants to Canada, behind India, China, and the Philippines when a total of 12,600 Nigerians gained permanent residence. This figure represents a tripling of Nigerian immigration to Canada since 2015.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa who chaired the Webinar encouraged Nigerians to utilise the opportunities presented by the relationship between the two countries while calling for more collaborations between Nigeria and Canada. The former legislator also spoke about the newly commissioned Nigeria Diaspora Trust Fund which she said will encourage Nigerian businesses abroad and Diaspora voting in the coming years.
