Britain has commended the economic reforms so far initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria, saying that such reforms are pathways to rapid growth.
Answering questions from journalists today, June 21, shortly after an audience with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential villa, Abuja the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, stressed that the reforms will help “put Nigeria on a higher growth path.
“They will attract more investments, and the United Kingdom and the city of London see Nigeria as a big opportunity going forward.”
Mr. Montgomery said that already Britain and Nigeria have a good economic dialogue, “but I think there is a great potential to do more.
“As I discussed with His Excellency, the big economic decisions being taken by this government are really important and are being noticed around the world: the removal of subsidy; the exchange rate reform, all of that create a much better investment environment. “I was in London last week; I was briefing my ministers, but I was also talking to British business in finance, banking and investment sectors.
“They are all responding very positively to these first decisions. We know that there are tough times that are going on at the moment, inflation and unemployment.
“The vice president and I also touched on some of the measures that might be possible to cushion the blow of some of these economic pressures.
“I will be doing my part to try to boost those, enhance trade and investment.”
On the issues of students’ visa, the High Commissioner recalled that last year, the UK granted three million new visas of which 325,000 of those visas were between Nigeria and UK.
He said that Nigerian visitors constitute over 10 per cent of the people visiting London and the UK.
“On the issue of students’ visas, I will also like to provide the context; that the number of Nigerian students coming to the UK has increases five-folds in the last three years; it is a fantastic success story for our universities and we are really delighted that so many Nigerians are coming to the UK.
“The issue about restrictions of people bringing dependents; that is not just for Nigeria but many parts of the world; many more students are trying to bring their dependents with them; and I think there are two issues here; the first is –it is not always possible to find housing services to meet all the needs of all our existing students population.
“Secondly, I think reasonable people will accept that we have to manage our visitor numbers and that we have to manage migration in and out of the UK; just as the Nigerian government does for your own borders.”
