02 May 2014, Lagos – Indian High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr A. R. Ghanashyam, has called for greater trade ties in the non-oil sector between Nigeria and India. Ghanashyam made the call in Abuja during a courtesy visit to the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mr Ekpo Nta.
He said the visit was to identify areas that could be explored to strengthen the already existing trade relations between the two countries. According to him, Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa with about $18 billion and partnership potentials. “The fact is that we do not want our relationship with Nigeria to be in oil alone, we want to diversify; we want to exploit other sectors. As the relationship is growing, the future potentials of the two countries are also growing considering the fact that Nigeria has the most intelligent people on the African continent,” he said. The high commissioner pledged the commitment of the Indian Government to strengthen the development of real assets of its trading partners. In his remark, Nta thanked the high commissioner for the visit adding that a cordial relationship had existed over the years between ICPC and the Indian high commission.
He pledged the commitment of ICPC to partner with relevant embassies to ensure that use of forged documents to apply for visa was addressed. Nta said the commission’s partnership with some embassies in the area of visa scams had started yielding results, adding that 32 suspects had been arrested with about 13 cases already in court. He called on embassies to develop strategies to reduce incidences of people travelling abroad without relevant documents.