The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills Jr, has said that Nigeria is strategic to the United States’ policy objectives in Africa due to the deep trade, cultural and business connections between both countries.
Mr Mills Jr said this on Thursday at a Fireside Chat held at the Lagos Business School, with the theme ‘Toward a Robust US-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Partnership.’
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The envoy explained that the strong partnership between both countries is built on the rich connections that exist between “our countries, our companies, our entrepreneurs, and our people.”
He said: “Take companies like Flutterwave, Andela, and Esusu—they were all founded by remarkable young Nigerians who studied in the United States. I’m sure even more start-ups will emerge from the minds of the more than 20,000 Nigerian students currently studying in the United States.
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“Those Nigerian students represent the largest number of students from any African country and the 7th largest worldwide. Similarly, Nigerians are the largest African diaspora group in the United States, with over 750,000 people of Nigerian descent living there. These deep bonds of familial, educational, business, and cultural connections underscore the strategic importance of Nigeria to U.S. policy objectives in Africa.”
The ambassador noted that the US will focus on private sector-led investment instead of aid in its engagement with Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigeria is the US’s second-largest trade partner in Africa, with bilateral trade hitting about $13bn at the end of 2024.
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“We are making a shift from aid to trade. We want to engage African nations not as aid recipients, but as capable commercial partners,” he said.
“For us, as our chief of African Affairs, Ambassador Latrell, said, going forward, we will continue to invest in development, but we will do so through expanding trade and private investment, because it is the private sector, not assistance, ultimately, that drives the final stage of economic growth.
“By promoting two-way trade and investment, we believe we can drive mutual growth for both our nations. So, as the US Ambassador to Nigeria, I’ve been given a key priority for my mandate to increase trade, increase investment, and increase business linkages between our two countries.”
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Mr Mills Jr also commended the Nigerian government for providing an enabling environment for US businesses to thrive, even as challenges persist.
“I want to commend the current leadership in Nigeria, both at the federal level and at many of the state levels. They listen to us when we come in and say, ‘This has been identified to us as a serious issue for US businesses,’ I think that’s important to put out — that we do have some listening, really listening, happening. I also want to say, I think the American business community — the US Mission — feels that we’ve seen some significant economic reforms in the last several years that have really improved the macroeconomic possibilities here,” he said.
He noted that the tax reform bills are very important, and similar macroeconomic reforms would impact businesses and improve trade.
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