Wendell De Landro, Trinidad and Tobago’s ambassador to Nigeria, says the South American country is ready to expand trade with Nigeria.
De Landro made the announcement on Monday in Abuja during the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago’s independence.
According to him, Trinidad and Tobago and Nigeria share similarities in rich culture, natural resources which can be properly exploited and traded for mutual benefit. But he lamented the decline in trade relations between the two nations.
“Culture is one. Another thing is that we have our own gas development. I know for a fact that there is gas flaring in Nigeria and that is sacrilege to me. And that is why when I came in 2018, I spoke to the Nigerian Gas Association about it, to show Nigeria what we can do about it,” De Landro said.
He added, “Right now, Nigeria is firing maybe half to three quarters of an LNG train… Nigeria has six trains and is working on the seventh. We (Trinidad and Tobago) have four. We are using our gas, our LNG and we sell. Nigeria is doing that, but they can do a lot more using flared gas.”
He emphasized that the trade between the two countries had decreased.
“We were exporting bitumen to Nigeria. What we are doing now is to get agricultural produce. We have small tops but in Nigeria you have tops as big as my feet. I tell people that the sweetest pineapples I’ve eaten are in Nigeria,” the envoy said. “In Jos, you have tomatoes. We make ketchup in Trinidad. We can get tomatoes from Jos to export.” De Landro
Tunde Mustapha, director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, congratulated Trinidad and Tobago on the economic achievements it has made in the last 60 years.
Mr. Mustapha, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said Nigeria was committed to strengthening its relationship with Trinidad and Tobago.
“Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago share very warm and cordial relations dating back to the time of independence and both our countries have been able to strengthen these cultural affinities over time,” he said. “We wish to congratulate the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on the giant strides it has taken to bring economic prosperity to its people.”
According to him, Trinidad and Tobago was classified by the World Bank as a high-income country with the highest return on capital in the region, after the US and Canada.
“Nigeria is committed to strengthening ties and ties with Trinidad and Tobago and there are many areas for cooperation in the economic sphere to be explored as both countries are oil producing nations,” the foreign affairs official noted.
He added: “The two countries also share common principles of peace, coexistence, non-aggression and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations.”
(IN)
