Coming to Nigeria I see things are positively different from what I was told in Tokyo – Japanese Ambassador

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Nigeria, Mr. Yutaka Kikuta, has described Nigeria as a country that is positive and development driven far from the impression he used to have about it while at home in Tokyo, the Japan’s capital.

Speaking in an interview with a print media in Nigeria, Mr. Kikuta also spoke about trade trade relation between his host country and own country, Japan’s development assistance, and put the number of Japanese companies operating in Nigeria as at 2017 at 40 with hope that it definitely has increased by 2018.

Asked specifically about his impression of Nigeria, Kikuta said: “I would say positive. I must confess, before I came here, I heard a lot about Nigeria in Tokyo. I would say that I had a negative impression about Nigeria; like Boko Haram, poverty, lack of good governance and corruption.

“But after my arrival, I found that Nigeria is a big country, and politically, economically, it is the largest and leader in the African continent with its natural resources.

“I also found that Nigeria has human resources. Nigerians have a good smile and I like that. They have good sense of humour. Whenever I joke, I like their reaction.

“They are very energetic, creative and have entrepreneur spirit. They seem to be living happily despite the challenges they face.

“Nigeria has very rich culture. I think the Japanese need to understand more to have a balanced picture of Nigeria, and vice versa. Japanese image is very little about this country.

“On many occasions when I attend events, people address me as Ambassador of Republic of Japan, People’s Democratic Republic of Japan.

“As you know, we have an emperor, we are not a republic. I like to promote the two countries to have a balanced image of both. That is what I’m doing in this country.

On his assessment of economic cooperation between Nigeria and Japan he said, “When it comes to economic cooperation, we focus on three points: trade, investment and official development. Nigeria is a very important country in Africa, and Japan attaches great importance to our relation.

“Next year, Japan will host the G20 Summit in Osaka. It is projected that in 2050, Nigeria will be a member of the G20. This is not Japanese projection. Trade volume between the two countries is very high.

“In 2016, exports from Nigeria to Japan, which are LNG and sesame seeds, stood at $839m. Import from Japan to Nigeria was at $318m. Items are iron, steel, car and machinery. Nigeria has trade surplus with Japan; about $521m. The trade balance between both countries has always been in favour of Nigeria.”

He said: “We do not intend to close the gap. We will like to promote import and export between the two countries. After the great earthquake, Japan’s nuclear power plant was shut down. We faced enormous energy crisis. We imported a lot of natural gas from Nigeria.

“In 2015, Japan was the largest importer of Nigeria’s LNG. We are very grateful to Nigeria for providing us with this very important energy source. So, we hope this kind of important economic relation continues.

“Nigeria has continued to be a very important country to Japan in terms of provision of natural resources and energy. In that sense, I will like to strengthen that kind of relation with Nigeria.

On Japanese companies in Nigeria he said: “The number of Japanese companies operating in Nigeria exceeded 40 in 2017. This year, we are yet to consolidate the total number, but we feel the number is increasing.

“Japanese companies that invest in Nigeria are big names. I would say big companies are also coming. In addition to automobile companies, firms dealing in consumables, I.T and online commerce have also indicated interest in the Nigerian market.

“It is very important to note that Japanese companies operating in Nigeria are not only interested in making profit; they also provide jobs to Nigerians and build skills of the local people.

“In terms of official development assistance, Japan is the third largest donor country for Nigeria; over $1.4bn of development cooperation and over 6,000 Nigerians have benefitted from trainings. We have been giving development assistance since 1966, grant aid assistance from 1970, technical cooperation from 1972 and grassroots assistance from 1998, and over 164 projects had been implemented across the country since then.”