Leena Pylvänäinen, Finland’s ambassador to Nigeria, has provided potential explanations for the low levels of trade between her nation and Nigeria.
Although there are numerous explanations for the figures, she noted in an exclusive interview that it is always a matter of which figures are being examined.
“If you look at simple trade in goods, the customs data, the numbers are incredibly low, but they do not capture all of the trade that we do because this data does not cover trade in services and they do not cover trade that goes via third countries and a lot of our trade is actually that type of trade,” said Ms. Pylvänäinen.
She did admit, though, that the numbers could be higher.
She claims that one of the factors contributing to Finland’s trade volume with Nigeria appearing low in comparison to some other European nations is the fact that Finland does not import gas or oil from Nigeria.
One of the main goals we have for this relationship “with Nigeria,” according to Ms. Pylvänäinen, is to increase the trade figure.
She also cited the fact that, despite having its first embassy in West Africa, Finland has historically had closer ties with countries in Eastern and Southern Africa than with those in West Africa.
Finland doesn’t know as much about West Africa, she remarked.
She added that one of the factors contributing to the low trade figures was the business environment in Nigeria.
You must admit that “Nigeria” is not the easiest place, especially for a small or medium-sized Finnish company, Ms. Pylvänäinen said, adding that large Finnish companies like Nokia have established offices there and employ a sizable workforce.
Analysis revealed that, according to the most recent World Bank annual ratings, Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, is currently ranked 131 out of 190 economies worldwide on ease of doing business.
In 2015, the nation was ranked 170; in 2016 and 2017, the ranking fell to 169 and 141, respectively.
Despite this obstacle, Ms. Pylvänäinen stated that the embassy in Nigeria hopes that the bigger, more established businesses can start to attract the smaller ones to trade while also growing.
“Startups and innovators are one industry that is developing very well, in our opinion. Current interactions between Finland’s startup hubs and Lagos, in particular, are quite interesting. Yes, we want to increase trade, but we also want to diversify it, she said.
She told this newspaper that there is an ongoing conversation going both ways and that there are plans to make doing business for Finnish companies in Nigeria easier.
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“I mean, we have the same dialogue with the Nigerian embassy, which covers Finland from Stockholm,” Ms. Pylvänäinen said. She continued, “There are always issues that are easy to solve through information sharing, but the difficulties that sometimes confront European businesses in Nigeria are in no way unique to Finnish businesses. Therefore, this is a topic that is heavily discussed at the European Chamber of Commerce in Lagos and is also a constant topic of conversation between the EU and Nigeria.
