There is an opportunity for African countries to join forces with Russia and shape a new contemporary reality that will dominate the global stage, a number of African and Russian entrepreneurs said in during an interview with Sputnik Africa.
Ahead of the Moscow Export Day forum for export-oriented business, Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation.
Patrick Adedeji Adekunle, CEO of the Nigerian company Fitzpatrick Energy and Logistics Ltd, spoke about the importance of cooperation between Russia, Nigeria and other African nations.
"Like you know, Nigeria is the seventh-largest producer of crude oil on the global stage and of course, Russia is the second," said Adekunle. "Now there's a need for us to build a formidable engagement synergy to be able to actualize our dream."
Adekunle acknowledged that there are political challenges in the global oil industry, but stressed the importance of building relationships based on mutual benefit. As a civil engineer himself, and having seen Russia's "impressive" infrastructure development firsthand, he believes there is potential for Nigeria and Russia to learn from each other and develop a strong infrastructure partnership.
Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation.
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The Nigerian believes that working together and leveraging each country's strengths is the key to success in the high-tech field. He pointed out that no one country or individual has a monopoly on wisdom or intellectual capacity.
Adekunle saw the opportunity for Russia and African countries to come together and design new infrastructure and architecture that would drive their initiative forward on the global stage. He acknowledged that Western sanctions may affect technology, but emphasized that through cooperation and working together, they could diversify the high-tech field and lessen dependence on other countries.
Mikhail Orlov, head of the Russian-Egyptian Business Council, spoke about his experience dining with Nelson Mandela and the profound insights that the former South African president offered. Orlov recounted Mandela's observation that Africa had gone through a long struggle for independence and that there were still many hurdles to be overcome to build a better future.
"He [Mandela] told us something very profound. He said that for several decades, Africa was going through a fight, a fight for independence. And there was, he said, nothing fabulous in that because the price paid by Africa to obtain that was very high. And he said phase one was to get out, but phase two was to reshape ourselves. He was talking not of South Africa, he was talking about the whole continent," Orlov recalled.
The head of the Russian-Egyptian Business Council also recalled that Mandela noted that Africa needed to put its own house in order and find the right partners to build real partnerships with those who would not seek to exploit the continent.
Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation
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Speaking about the challenges facing Russia's economic cooperation with some African countries, including Nigeria, Orlov, who is half Russian and half Egyptian, pointed to a difference in business culture and standards, especially in the oil and gas industry.
While Russia is autonomous in the production of oil and gas equipment and has enormous potential, there are still some standards-related issues, he argued. Many companies in Russia have a goal-oriented culture and produce excellent equipment, but they may struggle to communicate and operate in a global market. Russia works with standards from the GOST system (the Russian national standard), while the rest of the world tends to use API (American Petroleum Institute) standards.
Orlov emphasized the importance of harmonizing business standards and values, and of finding a way to bring together nations with different cultures and ways of life. While acknowledging that Africa still had many challenges to face, the businessman expressed his hope that through collaboration and hard work, the continent could look forward to a brighter future.
Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation
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Prince Adeboboye Ologbese, commissioner for regional integration and diaspora relations for the State of Ondo in Nigeria, said he sees many promising areas of cooperation between Russia and African countries, particularly in industrial growth and diversification of the economy away from crude oil.
He believes that Africa is a virgin market with many untapped opportunities and that Russia has a lot to gain from partnering with African countries, particularly Nigeria, which is one of largest the markets on the African continent. Ologbese said that his country is currently waking up to its potential and is actively looking to diversify its economy beyond crude oil.
"Technology is fast moving ahead of the crude oil. In the next 30 years, technology is going to take over. The crude oil will be very, very useless. So that is why we want to quickly diversify our economy out of oil driven to begin to expand our industrial goods," Ologbese argued.
Moreover, the Nigerian official believes that if Russia can coordinate with African nations, given its sincere leadership in the field of industrialization, both Russia and Africa will benefit significantly.
Meanwhile, Prince Ologbese added that he believes Russia and Nigeria can work together to ensure food and energy security in Africa and the world. In addition, he noted that mechanized farming is not well developed in Africa, but there's potential to revolutionize the continent's agricultural sector with the help of Russian technology.
The prince pointed out that there is a growing interest in agriculture among Africans because of the potential in the value chain of agriculture. He cited the example of Nigeria, where the government banned rice imports and the country was able to feed itself with locally-produced rice.
Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation
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Sampson Uwem-Edimo, chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Organization (NIDO) in Russia spoke on the role of education and training opportunities that Russia offers to Africans. He said that he believes that the tertiary institutions in Russia have an important role to play in terms of education, especially in establishing trust institutions and promoting awareness.
He noted that soft power has been proven to be one of the most effective instruments in this regard, and that tertiary institutions in Russia can use their power of knowledge.
Uwem-Edimo referred to a program last year in which Russian language courses were introduced in Nigerian universities to help students who wanted to study in Russia. He argued that this program should be pushed more aggressively to bridge the communication gap that exists between the two nations. Uwem-Edimo noted that language plays a crucial role in effective communication, and that it is necessary for people to speak Russian to better understand Russian culture and perspectives.
The Nigerian added that his country is one of the most populous countries in Africa, and with a GDP of 16% of the total GDP of Africa, it is vital for Nigeria to continually up its technological and agricultural game to boost its economy and improve the lives of its people. He stressed the importance of technology and specialists trained in Russia to help boost Nigeria's development.
"I don't want to go to mention anything, though, so I wouldn't be making an advertisement for anybody because technology is very important for Africa. One, I think that the technology from Russia will be cheaper comparatively for Africa," Uwem-Edimo highlighted. "And I think that for the population of Nigeria, Nigeria doesn't really need to just be buying but can establish a kind of assembly plant in Nigeria for Nigeria and spread across Africa also."