Lagos, Enugu become CWEIC’s newest strategic partners

The Lagos and Enugu State Governments have both joined as strategic partners of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC).

This was disclosed to journalists in Lagos recently by the Chief Executive Officer of CWEIC, Rosie Glazebrook.

Glazebrook told journalists that she met with the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and some of his commissioners, including Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, for a strategic partnership signing ceremony for the Lagos State Government to officially join CWEIC as a strategic partner at the Lagos House Marina.

She said: “This will provide an excellent platform for businesses in Lagos State and beyond to interact across the Commonwealth and provide a whole series of activities in 2025 and beyond, for the government of Lagos State to showcase the best of what it can do for inward investments and driving trade across the Commonwealth.

“The second part was my visit to Enugu State to meet His Excellency, Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu and some of his exco members including Adaora O. Chukwu, commissioner for Trade, Investment and Industry and Chidiebere Onyia, secretary to Enugu State Government, where we also had a strategic partnership signing ceremony for the Enugu State Government to officially join CWEIC as a strategic partner at the Lion Building.

“We also visited Obi Ozor, commissioner for Transport, who shared the vision of the governor on the multimodal transport system being developed in the state.

“We had also put up meetings for businesses who are not yet partners to know what value we can offer to them.”

She also used her current visit to Nigeria to co-chair the Nigerian advisory council with Olasupo Shasore, partner, Africa Law Practice NG & Co, adding that CWEIC has 25 strategic partners based in Nigeria.

“We meet twice in a year to share what has been happening and to look at the future and to build partnerships going forward,” she said.

Glazebrook explained that one of the cardinal goals of the council was breaking down barriers to trade for foreign investors to come to Nigeria, especially in the area of standards.

According to her, “One of the ways is looking at issues around standards. The Commonwealth standard is working with Nigerian government and partners to look at how that can help businesses in Nigeria connect across the Commonwealth and beyond.

“Another area is ease of business travels. This is something that is close to me that we need to make it easy for businesses to come into Nigeria.

“We work with 56 governments in the Commonwealth and we are looking on how we can encourage businesses from other Commonwealth Nations to look in. It is our convening power that we think can help local businesses that is on the ground.”

The CEO of CWEIC was confident that the council’s efforts to make inroad into the Nigerian public sector, both at federal and state levels, are becoming fruitful.

She said that the council was very pleased to bring delegation that discussed with the Vice President, H.E. Kashim Shetima during her last visit in Nigeria and in collaboration with the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) and other partners about how the council could build plans going forward.

“We very much have the ambition to do more work and partnership at the federal government level. But we are looking at a very longer-term plan.”

Glazebrook also used her visit to mobilise government and private entities to attend that upcoming Commonwealth Trade and Investment Summit (CTIS) that is scheduled to hold in London, United Kingdom, between April 7-8, 2025 at the iconic Mansion House which is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London.

She confirmed that the Governor of Lagos State and Enugu State have both agreed to headline the inaugural Governor’s Roundtable at the upcoming CTIS, stressing that it will afford both Governors great opportunity to engage global investors and partners.

“We want to encourage strong Nigeria presence, there because it is an excellent place to showcase what the country has. I am very keen to encourage Nigeria businesses to see the event as an opportunity to showcase what they can do.

“We very much expect to have federal ministers coming to our next trade and investment summit in London from across the Commonwealth of Nations. Last year we had the then Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment to our CTIS.”

The current Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment has also been invited to the CTIS that will hold in April 2025 and we look forward to her confirmation to attend soon.”

“We very much hope that we will have that level of ministerial engagement this time around. That is a way to showcase what the Federal government wants to do with the Commonwealth,” she explained.