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Germany says to handle the challenges of migration, it is proposing a collaborative management approach, which would offer mutual benefits to both Germany and Nigeria.
German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz said this during a joint press briefing with President Tinubu, after three separate meetings, which began with a bilateral political discussion and ended with a government-to-business round table.
Scholz added that debates were ongoing on the migration and very soon the gray areas will be addressed.
In his words, “The first is yes, there is a need in Germany for people that have talent and that want to work in our country in a way which is a regular path for migrants. We are working intensely in this field and we want to make more progress and get things agreed upon in detail.
“The second is that part of this is also an agreement that those who do have not the right to stay in my country can go back and should go back and this is part of something that is a win-win story for the two countries and in this sense, we had a debate and I think we will fix it very soon”, he said.
Scholz stated that there is willingness from German companies to invest in Nigerian infrastructure projects such as the railway sector.
“On the railways sector, we have not gone into the details but I can assure you there is willingness to increase partnership all over the globe”
Speaking at the Government-to-Business Roundtable, President Tinubu told the visitors that his administration is conversant with the characteristics of a typical business environment, hence the reason for the series of reforms and policy readjustments the nation has seen in recent times.
“Nigeria has gone through a lot of reforms, yet we cannot be 100% sure everything goes smoothly. Some of you might not have been here while we were discussing the rule of law, I know for businesses, particularly investors, because I’ve been in that environment before, and I am from that constituency.
“I was once a Treasurer of ExxonMobile in Nigeria, so I can understand the pain and delays of investment, I can understand the pain and delays of conflict in any business partnership and you cannot remove conflicts from the process, but you can minimize it. But how well the investor’s investment is protected is very clearly very important.
“Investment is cowardly, it doesn’t like delays and conflicts, it will run away, we understand that. Equally, time management, to promote efficiency and smooth operation under the rule of law is crucially important.
“We are reforming our economic and business environment to promote efficiency. You might have read or been aware that we have removed the oil subsidy, we’re going through tax reforms to eliminate double taxation and give you better returns on investments and some principles will ensure your investments grow well and are protected.
“We welcome you to the collaboration, we’re happy this is happening to us. I believe that my friend will add more to the value of Nigeria’s environment. We have discussed that I’ve committed to you that we’ll promote the efficiency, and business and remove all conflict areas that might be possible immediately”, he said.
Responding to a question on the government’s alleged refusal to re-admit over 12,000 Nigerians who failed to secure Germany’s asylum provision and are at risk of deportation, President Tinubu said such Nigerians are free to return to Nigeria
He disclosed that both countries were working on regularizing the stay of those who are economic refugees, following the immigration laws of the countries.
“We had a very deep discussion on this and you have to separate the economic refugees from real refugees. We have a programme to work in partnership to ensure normal migration and deepen the relationship in that area. I’m not making any demands, if they are Nigerian citizens, they are Nigerian citizens, and they are welcome back home. Nothing should send them away.
“We are ready to enter into a partnership to improve the migration situation since other young and vibrant people can go through the process according to the immigration law of the country to accept them as long as they are of good behaviour and good character. We are ready to work together in that direction”, he said.
Earlier, Chancellor Olaf decried that solid Mineral resources were left at the level of extraction, adding that they ended up in another country rather than for Nigeria’s development.
“It is also important that we use the way of developing your economy in the fields of the minerals you have. I think that the investments into this structure must be easy, but also benefitting for your country.
“It is something that bothered me a lot in the past that sometimes it was just about extraction, which is not enough. There should be one bit more for making it feasible that some parts of the economic development can be used in the countries of origin.