 Welcome back away from that feature on the real estate. Let me introduce my guest Stanley Achono is the country director of the one campaign here in Nigeria and he joins me now to speak on Nigeria Africa's ties with Germany vis-a-vis the German Chancellor's visit. Many thanks for joining me Stanley. Thank you for having me. Okay, let us just start this way. How crucial is Germany's partnership with Africa at this time? Germany's partnership with Africa is increasingly becoming crucial, especially in the light of the global economic development of sustainable cooperation that we have been talking about. Germany supports largest economy in the world and one of Africa's biggest trading partners. On our side, we have on the African side, we have seen that we have the potential to be crucial contributors to solving global challenges. We have abundant human and natural resources and we are seeing how extraordinary human resources side where Africa is not becoming a huge contributor to the tech team and all of the other challenges the world sees. Germany's partnership is real. Africa, you know, finally became a member of the G20, a country of partners like Germany who put in the effort to get Africa, you know, in seats at the G20. A really big crucial global decision making body. So to have a seat on the African Africa, that global body is also important and Germany played a really crucial role. But Germany is very clear about how they want to work with Africa. They have established compacted Africa where their approach to support Africa is mutually agreed and discussed. So there is no better time to strengthen the German-African partnership, especially the Nigerian-German partnership than now. So the willingness to do that is put on the side of the Nigerian government and on the side of the German government. And this is why the German leadership is making frequent trips to Africa. The president to be in Tanzania and in Tibet, this will be the second time the chancellor is on the continent. So Africa is beginning to gain global attention and that partnership is not crucial. You know, that you have laid so far. But what then are your expectations, particularly from this particular trip to Africa? A lot. For one, I expect a lot of conversation around direct investment in between Nigeria and Germany. As you know, the economic situation in Nigeria is crucial and we need to attract as much investment as possible in the immediate. This is to present a unique opportunity and I expect that the Nigerian government to put out a clear set of demands or requests in terms of private sector led direct investment from Germany and German businesses into Nigeria and Nigeria businesses. We also expect a bit of conversation on reforming the global financial architecture. Germany is an influential leader and Africa is facing significant talent in assessing affordable financing from the global multilateral development banks like the World Bank and IMS. And this challenge is in progress in various sectors on the continent. We expect that to be on the table during this visit. There's been an ongoing conversation to reform the global financial architecture so that it is suitable for people. At the moment, it is more difficult for the countries in need to find the finances they require in a timely fashion. I hope that that could be discussed and that the road again we can continue to advance in support of reforming a World Bank, IMS and those multilateral development banks to be on the table. We also need to ask for an increased voice in the decision making level at these global institutions. IMS, World Bank, UN, we need to really be on the same level and I'm talking about the need for investment. These global bodies meet and direct global investment flows. So it's important that we engage in the discussion that affects us directly. And we're also seeking a two-way partnership, especially between Gemini and Nigeria. German businesses hold a lot of capital, they hold a lot of influence that can help a sort of speed up Nigeria's economy and that should be priority on this basis. And I expect there to be a lot of conversation around Nigeria's tech space. Our think-takes would be discussed and how Gemini can continue to partner and support us will also be very crucial on this topic. Yes, that's my expectation. Okay, let me still button. Good thing you've mentioned the trade relationship between Nigeria and of course Gemini. Now the relationship, the trade volume rather reached about 3 billion euros in 2022, which was a substantial rise from the previous year's 2 billion euros. In what areas, I know you have mentioned FinTech and all of that, but in what other areas can Gemini invest more in the country? The creative industry is booming in Nigeria, so I would expect Gemini to look to that sector. Gemini's gas, Nigeria has abundance of gas. I would expect conversation around natural resources to be on. All right, it's still Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. We lost Stanley Achonid there, but we'll take a quick break and see if we can reconnect with him in a minute. Stay with us. All right, welcome back. It's still Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. We had to take a quick break there, but welcome back there. We still have Stanley Achonid, he is the country director here in Nigeria of one campaign, and we've been looking at the German Chancellor's visits to Africa, specifically Nigeria and how economic bilateral ties can actually be strengthened. Stanley, just before we took that break, we were talking about what other areas Gemini can invest in the country, but then again, Nigeria is a major player in gas supply in Africa. With the gas situation in Europe, can the country harness this visit to explore more ties with Gemini in that regard? Yes, I mentioned that Nigeria's gas will be part of this conversation. There is already an effort to build Africa gas pipeline going from Nigeria all the way to Europe to improve gas supply to Europe. So I expect that to be on the table, but the challenge is that harnessing this opportunity and potential in gas is captain intensive and requires a huge amount of money to invest in gas infrastructure to enable that benefit to be reached. Our debt is mounting. We have declining revenue that makes it even more difficult for governments to channel the required investment. I think that Gemini would be interested in supporting Nigeria in harnessing our gas potential to become available for the German economy. It would not be an immediate result. It would take a few years for the investment to mature, but I expect there to be a concrete outcome on this one between President Thinibu and Chancellor Thao on this visit. Gas development will play a crucial role. Just also add that the peace of the region, the African region, especially what we have seen in Nigeria, will be crucial because in talking about gas, the pipeline will have to pass through some of the difficult areas we have in our sub-region. All of the Maori, Niger and the areas where we have seen an increased number of military coups. Discussing the security of the region will also form part of the environment that enables the state of investment to happen, but gas will be very crucial in increasing our bilateral trade with Europe. All right, Stanley, just before we let you go, in passing you mentioned the creative industry, but we sort of lost you there at some point. Can you just wrap up your thoughts concerning how Nigeria and Germany can play in that particular light? Yes, the creative industry is one of the biggest. We have seen movie music in a sort of cut across cultures and go around the world. We are one of the biggest music sector at the moment that the world is paying attention to. Our fashion is also taking on the world to our creative industry broadly. Movie music fashion in all sense is growing and the world is paying attention. So I expect there to be any sort of cultural integration and stirring up ideas. Countries are made by how much of the world know about them and Nigeria is beginning to gain global attention. I also mentioned that our agricultural and agribusiness processing sector should be one area where Germany is looking to invest. It's a labor risk, job intensive, it's great to put multiple in jobs, but it's also very profitable if it is done right. So if the Nigerian government puts in the right policies that enables German businesses to make the right investment, it's uniquely beneficial to both sides. There are countries who make huge revenue exporting at the cultural produce and Nigeria is well positioned. We have six hours away from Europe. You can get fresh flowers down to Germany. You can get fresh food in the down to Germany in six hours in the whole of Europe. So we are well positioned to feed the world. This is the right investment to make. Supported by a good manufacturing sector would be areas where I think we can look to grow our great relationship with Germany and get to beyond the three billion dollars indeed in 2023. All right. Well said, Stanley. Many thanks for the very wonderful inputs and insights that you have shared on the show today.