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The Philippine ambassador to Nigeria, Meresole Mellejor, said bilateral trade between Nigeria and his country has surpassed more than a hundred million US dollars in the last few years.
Mellejor disclosed this in his remarks on the 126th anniversary of Philippine independence, celebrated in Abuja on Wednesday.
He explained that the Philippines recorded the highest bilateral trade with Nigeria in 2020, before the COVID-19 era.
He added that an estimated 8, 000 Filipinos operate in different industries in Nigeria.
“The Philippines and Nigeria may be located on two (2) different continents with about 18 hours of flight time, but our relations have been long-standing and robust. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1962, the two (2) countries have signed bilateral agreements and are in the process of concluding more, all aimed to generate concrete mutually beneficial outcomes.
“At the political level, the Philippines and Nigeria have a regular Joint Commission Meeting between our respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs. This year, we are resuming another edition of such a meeting, which was temporarily put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have a respectable level of bilateral trade, reaching more than a million US dollars at its highest in 2020 and a steady flow of tourists from both sides.
“But the most concrete manifestation of our relations has always been our people. At its peak before the global financial crisis in 2009, there were an estimated 8,000 Filipinos in Nigeria, mostly professionals in various capacities—in the oil and industrial states, factories in many parts of Nigeria and more importantly, in the services sector. Now estimated to be around 3,000, the number is rising again as we emerge from the global pandemic. We certainly thank Nigeria for welcoming and hosting our nationals,” he stated in his remarks.
