London, August 31, 2018 (AltAfrica)-Nigerian Government and Germany on Friday signed two memorandum of understanding in agriculture and commerce to improve productivity in both sectors.

Both MoU signed was part of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 3-day tour to West African countries – Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. Her tour is focused on strengthening economic development and containing illegal migration.

The first agreement was signed between the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, (NACCIMA) and the German-Africa Business Association.

Deputy national president of NACCIMA Saratu Abubakar, signed on behalf of Nigeria, while Stefan Liebing, of German Africa Business Association, signed on behalf of the German business delegation.

The second agreement was signed between the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL, and the PETKUS Technologie GmbH, a company that specializes in post-harvest agricultural value chain which was signed by Aliyu Abdulhameed and representative of PETKUS Technologie GmbH, Peter Huser, signed for the Germans.

”We want our SMEs to learn from the German Experience and be as important. The other area of German excellence is the technical area; technical education, technical training and technical development. It’s also an area of great interest to Nigeria,” Enelamah said.

He disclosed that Nigeria is also working with Germany in the automobile sector where “Germany leads”, saying Nigeria has a policy to lead the auto sector in West Africa and Africa.

Also, Aliyu Abdulhameed who signed the MoU on behalf of Nigeria’s NIRSAL and PETKUS said the collaboration was borne out of the realization of the opportunities that exist for investments in the Nigerian agricultural sector.

According to him, the agreement will reducing the 51.3metric tons of aggregate food production, equivalent of about US$9 billion, which the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, report says Nigeria loses annually.

“Under the current administration and the present agricultural promotion policy of this government, there are ample opportunities for investors, in terms of technology and capital, to come to Nigeria and to invest in the agricultural sector,” Abdulhameed