ABUJA: The Head of Economic and Commerce of the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Pablo Segrelles, has said that €6.5bn (N1.49tn) worth of crude oil was exported from Nigeria by his country in 2014.
He said the huge volume of oil and gas exported from Nigeria exceeded the volume of goods sent to the country by Spain.
Speaking at a business luncheon organised by the Nigerian-Spain Association on Wednesday, Segrelles said the business relationship between both countries would extend to other sectors because of the diversification of Nigerian economy.
He said, “There has always been productive relationship business relationship. Spain has always bought Nigerian products, especially oil and gas. Ten years ago, we were the second client; now, we are the 11th because of the growth of other emerging countries, and we began to import more after the Libyan crisis.”
“Of course now that oil prices are going down, the value of the imports are expected to be down. However, in 2014, the import of Nigerian products was worth €6,500m; that is a big amount and it is nearly 20 times more than what Spain exports to Nigeria.”
Segrelles stressed that financial crises, public budget constraints and cuts, and election uncertainties in his country had been overcome with good governance, making Spain the fastest growing economy in 2014.
He expressed optimism that Nigeria would also identify its challenges and come up with policies that would help in addressing the economic problems.
The President, NSA, Chief Olusola Dada, said trade between the two countries had been limited to the oil and gas sector but the growing interest of Spain in investing in Nigeria would balance that and encourage the real sector to ensure the production of non-oil products for export.
He said, “In terms of the internationalisation of our economy, we are told that Spain has been trying to expose its economy to the international communities and this is what we are trying to do.
“In the past, we were exporting oil and gas products, but from what we have been witnessing in Nigeria, whereby oil revenue is dwindling, no one will teach us to encourage non-oil products. We spend a lot of money externally to import things that are not necessary. We need to domesticate these products.”
