FG seeks direct flight operations with Brazil

The Federal Government on Friday stressed the need for Brazilian airlines to begin direct flights to Nigeria to ease trade relations between both countries.
The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said this in Abuja when a trade delegation from Brazil paid him a courtesy visit.
Maku said that the move would reduce the long hours of flight and cost of travel from Nigeria to Brazil and ultimately remove other related barriers to trade between both countries.
Maku said that the long trip from Nigeria to Brazil through Europe, which lasted many hours, had been partly responsible for the imbalance in trade relations between both countries.
He said: “You know that from this part of the world, Europe is the known route to Brazil and for a journey that is supposed to take five hours, it stretches to over 10 hours and this discourages business trips between both countries.
“For some of us, we look forward to a day when Brazilian airlines would fly straight to Nigeria and not necessarily through Europe.
“This will help business development between both countries.”
Maku, who recounted Brazil’s experience during its days of dictatorship, said there were a lot of positive lessons that could be derived from the country as an economic giant in South America.
He said that Brazil had exited from difficult economic and social difficulties to become the biggest economy in South America and an example for developing economies to follow.
He said that the business environment in Nigeria had been made more conducive, noting that the population and other incentives had placed the country above many of its likes in the world.
He said: “We believe in this journey.
“We need Brazil.
“We have a lot of opportunities and we hope that Brazil will take advantage of these opportunities and invest in the economy.”
He said that the current administration was working to tap from the vast resources and potentials in the agricultural sector to enable Nigeria to attain self sufficiency and earn foreign exchange.
Earlier, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil, Vincent Okodion, said that the mission from Brazil was one of the gains of the Federal Government’s drive for Foreign Direct Investments in Nigeria.
Okodion said the delegation, which comprised distinguished and reputable Brazilian businessmen and women, was in the country to explore areas of investments in agriculture, health and tourism.
He said that members of the team had been split into groups to engage interest groups in specialised areas of agriculture across the country.
The ambassador said that Brazil had developed technologies for mechanised agriculture that the country could leverage from to attain self sufficiency in food production and earn foreign exchange to boost its economy.
He said: “Many of us abroad have used the National Good Governance Tour to monitor the progress of the government at home.
“We have taken advantage of the programme to attract investments to the country, so it is in the light of the programmes of the administration that the investors have embarked on the trip to Nigeria.
“We hope that members of this delegation would identify areas of interest in their various interactions and visits across the country.”
The head of the mission, Luiz Mainardi, said the visit was made possible by the efforts of the Nigerian ambassador to Brazil.
Mainardi, who is also the Secretary of Agriculture in the state of Rio Grande Do Sul, said the ambassador had been the greatest inspiration to prospective Brazilian investors in Nigeria.
Mainardi, who spoke through an interpreter, said that the delegates had a lot to share with their Nigerian counterparts to enable them to develop her agro-business sector.
He said: “We are here today because we were moved by the Nigerian ambassador to Brazil to come to Nigeria and see the reality on ground.
“Our state has always been a leading state in terms of productivity and we hope to share these experiences with interested stakeholders in Nigeria.”
He expressed the hope that their deliberations in the country would be fruitful ahead of another visit by top Brazilian government trade officials in June.
The Brazilian ambassador to Nigeria, Joao Lima, said the nation would work harder to sustain the favourable bilateral relations between both countries.
He said that Brazil remained one of Nigeria’s top trade partners on the African continent, adding that the relations could be better enhanced.