British Prime Minister, Theresa May, says she had an excellent time in Nigeria and hopes to see increased trade and investment between Nigeria and the UK.
She spoke with newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja on Wednesday in Lagos, shortly before departing the country at 8:10 p.m.
“I was in Abuja and also in Lagos to see the thriving business community here.
“We want to see increased trade between Nigeria and UK, increased investment, bringing jobs here in Nigeria, jobs in the UK.
“This will be good for both countries and I have had an excellent time in here in Nigeria, and I am very pleased to be here today,” she told newsmen.
Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, who was at the airport to see her off, said the important visit centered on improving investment in the state and the country in general.
“She has visited Abuja earlier in the day.
“The important part of this visit was discussion on how investment in Lagos can be improved by British investors.
“We realise that Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria and a whole lot of British investment are domiciled in Lagos,” he said.
The governor said they spoke about how to improve investment planning and what Lagos has been doing to attract investors.
“We having been doing a lot of judicial sector reforms and security sector reforms and she is pleased with the progress we are making in Lagos.
“She is ready to complement our efforts by opening up export credit facility and also with development finance to some of the things that we are doing in Lagos,” he said.
Ambode said the discussion also centred around boosting technology and improving infrastructure and the creative industry.
“We spoke about things related to technology, infrastructure and also the creative industry.”
On the relationship between Lagos and Britain, Ambode said: “we need to make sure that a whole lot of British investment is coming to Lagos. She is willing to do more with us.
“You know, Lagos in 1861 was a British colony. The history has been so long, so, we also need to reactivate that,” Ambode said.
NAN reports that the state government, in a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Habib Aruna, shed more light on Ambode’s discussion with May.
Ambode, according to the statement, said that much of Nigerian education, cultural and political systems were influenced by Britain and there were more Nigerians living in the UK than elsewhere in the world.
