Nigeria Content Online

The
South African embassy has promised to improve on the challenges faced
by Nigerian business personnel in getting visas to that country, in
order to enhance the trade relations with Nigeria.

Thandi Mgxwati, Political Counsellor/Head of Lagos
Mission, South Africa High Commission, speaking on ‘Nigeria-South
Africa Bilateral Relations – Successes and Challenges’, said efforts
are currently being made to make visa applications and processing
easier for Nigerians wishing to travel to that country.

The South African envoy, who spoke at a breakfast
meeting organised by the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce on
Wednesday in Lagos, said this is one of the ways to fully explore the
investment and trade opportunities available to both countries through
their bilateral relationship.

The relationship between Nigeria and South Africa
is believed to be skewed in favour of the latter, as there are more
investments and trading activities by South Africa in Nigeria, than the
other way round.

“South Africa is looking forward to working with
Nigerian businesses to further open up trade and investment
opportunities between the two countries, and we will like to see more
partnerships and more Nigerian businesses coming into South Africa. We
are trying to respond to the imbalance business arrangement by taking
advantage of these opportunities to create a better working condition
for all parties,” she said.

Ms. Mgxweti argued that Nigeria can gain a lot in
business partnership with South Africa in terms of industries,
agriculture, among others.

Investment opportunities

Trade relations between both countries since the
launch of the South Africa- Nigeria Bi-National Commission 10 years
ago, leapt from $16.5-million in 1999, to $2.1-billion in 2008.

Although Ms Mgxweti said she did not have current
statistics on the volume of trade between Nigeria and South Africa at
the time of the briefing, she however, hoped it is good, adding that
there is still a lot of business potentials in the two countries
waiting to be explored.

Visa problems

Most of the participants who spoke at the meeting
called for a quick resolution of the visa problems encountered by
Nigerians at the South African embassy, as the situation is affecting
Nigerians intending to do business with that country.

To this, Ms Mgxweti said, “We are currently
working on a short term solution. This we intend doing by introducing
systems to perfect the turnaround time for visa applications. This will
be used to provide more information to people, as we have realised that
the lack of information on the visa requirements by the embassy has
been a deterring factor to issuing visas.

“We intend creating a website which will enable
people to read more, and this will concurrently serve as a platform to
addressing issues of business barriers. We also want to use this medium
to encourage people who intend going for the World Cup to apply on time
for their visas and not leave it to the last minute, as this will help
save all the hiccups and unnecessary stress,” she added.

Nicholas Coleman, the new Commercial Counsellor at
the South Africa High Commission, said his mission to Nigeria is to
enhance trading opportunities between both countries, by providing
relevant information to potential investors and business personnel
wanting to explore the South African economy.

Alubani Sebanda, Head, South Africa Corporate
office, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, sponsors of the breakfast meeting,
recalled that the bank started with five branch offices in Nigeria, and
has been tapping from the vast Nigerian economy, and believes they can
still do more.

“We are an international repute bank with no
crisis record during the bank auditing and repositioning carried out by
the Central Bank of Nigeria, in August last year. We are still waxing
stronger and are encouraging a growing partnership and business
investments between both countries, and we are willing to extend our
private equity external bank by looking into enterprises and help them
gather information about what is happening in South Africa and what to
invest in,” he said.

Thobi Duma, Country Manager, South Africa Airways,
used the opportunity to encourage Nigerians to book their flights to
attend the World Cup, as this will open up more business opportunities
for them, while also providing them a means of relaxation and tourism.