Zuma, who made the pledge while addressing to a joint session of the Nigerian National Assembly in company of President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, said there is potential for greater business to business engagements between the two countries.

 

According to Zuma, South Africa government is prepared to avail Nigeria the opportunity to tap from its exploits in electricity generation as well as solid minerals.

 

"Our experience in electricity generation can also be tapped into, to assist in Nigeria's electricity generation, to name but a few. In this regard, South Africa's solid minerals mining experience can contribute to solid minerals exploration in Nigeria", he stated.

 

He stated that both countries must collaborate by diversifying their economies to create employment as this will further improve the impact that Africa can have in the global economy and to reconfigure the terms of trade.

 

These he said includes "the diversification of the economy, namely electricity generation and supply, agriculture and agro-processing, tourism development including the hospitality sector, mining, banking, infrastructure development, aviation, manufacturing and the automotive sector.

 

We must strive for the diversification of our economies, so as to cast the net wide enough to create more job opportunities for our people, to improve their living conditions and grow our economies through domestic resources in the first instance".

 

The visiting president said by doing this, both countries would break away from the colonial legacy that has turned Africa into providers of primary commodities and recipients of processed goods. This is important because the current state of affairs makes Africa vulnerable to the volatilities of the international economy that sustains the uneven terms of trade.

 

"We must strive to bring the manufacturing plants closer to the sources of raw materials. South Africa and Nigeria can to a large extent, complement each other towards the achievement of this", he pointed out.

 

He opined that the current global economic crisis, has exposed the vulnerability of the economies and currencies of both countries therefore calls for concerted efforts toward South-south and intra-Africa cooperation.

Source : allafrica.com