Commonwealth Council, Nigeria Collaborate on Food Security

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC), Mrs. Rosie Glazebrook, has said that the council would collaborate with Nigeria on food security, transition from fossil to cleaner energy sources and enhancing the skillset of Nigerian enterprising youths through internship program.

Glazebrook expressed this view during his recent visit to Nigeria to mobilise the Nigerian organised private sector to attend the forthcoming Commonwealth Business Forum 2022 (CBF 2022) in Kigali, Rwanda, to let their voice be heard by the global investment community.

Glazebrook said that the CBF 2022, which would hold from June 21-23, is being organised by the CWEIC in partnership with the government of Rwanda as an official part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), in Kigali, Rwanda.

She said: “We see huge opportunities here. We have talked about energy transition and that is certainly a key area for opportunities for us to do more work with Nigeria.”

“The other area is food security and how that will be impacted by the events in the world today.

“We are very interested also in prioritising skills in young people and we collaborate closely with the Association of Commonwealth Universities. One of the areas we will be looking into to do more on is forming partnerships between academic partners, the universities, and the business sector. And that may take the form of internships and up scaling stuff within some of the industries here and elsewhere.”  

The chief executive of CWEIC described the CBF 2022 as a truly global event that would bring together Heads of Government, ministers, and senior business leaders from around the world and address CHOGM’s theme titled “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming,” with focus on rebuilding and reinvigorating the global economy post-COVID, and the leadership role of the Commonwealth and its private sector could play in accomplishing this.

She said: “The CBF-2022 will provide a valuable opportunity for high-level dialogue on trade and investment between business and government leaders from across the Commonwealth and beyond and also enable the voice of Nigerian businesses to be heard right across the globe and provide maximum visibility and connections that could benefit them.”

According to her, “the CHOGM will be returning to Africa after quite a long time and the CBF 2022 is for three days of the CHOGM meeting. We are delighted that H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda will be opening the business forum while The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Boris Johnson, and The Prince of Wales will be attending the CBF 2022. One of the key themes of the CBF will be energy and energy security.

“Nigerians strategic partners will be sitting on the panel sessions at this event and will speak to a global audience across the Commonwealth businesses.   

“His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, will also be attending the CHOGM meeting. From the perspective of the CWEIC, we want to encourage as many businesses as possible from Nigeria to bring delegations and to have their voice heard at this important event. I am delighted that so many of them are planning to attend,” adding that she was “very pleased to meet with many of our strategic partners and also potential partners in Nigeria. There are a number of businesses being invited to join our network in this meeting to understand our priorities.”

Glazebrook described the CWEIC as an enabler of businesses by providing access to key decision-makers in government and other businesses for its members wherever there are obstacles that might need to do with policy issues or challenges of having visibility at the right place.

“This will help Nigerian companies have their voices heard in an international context. So we bring together people with the common aim to provide visibility and access to key decision-makers in government and other businesses,” she said.