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Nigeria, Germany Sign Accord to Increase Economic Ties

Nigeria, Germany Sign Accord to Increase Economic Ties

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria and Germany signed an accord to increase economic cooperation in agriculture and automobile manufacturing, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

“We talked about economic cooperation and food security,” Merkel told reporters Friday in Abuja after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. “We also signed a memorandum of understanding for local production of cars.”

Merkel, who arrived in Nigeria two days after British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit, said that the West African nation has achieved some successes against the Boko Haram Islamist militant group that has waged a 9-year-old violent campaign to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous country of almost 200 million people.

Nigerians will vote in the first quarter of next year in national and state elections, with Buhari seeking a second four-year term in office.

“We spoke about the elections next year and it is important that the elections are free and transparent,” Merkel said.

The German leader was accompanied by a delegation of the German Africa Business Association, which met the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture and reached an agreement for cooperation in commerce and agriculture.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Dulue Mbachu, Pauline Bax

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