Nigeria emerges as top West African trade partner

NIGERIA HAS emerged as South Africa ‘s biggest trading partner in West Africa, and its third in Africa after Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to Xinhua News Agency, quoting the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) The SA – Nigeria Chamber of Commerce revealed that South Africa’s exports to Nigeria had grown from R291m in 1998 to R4 bn in 2 006. Imports, mostly oil, more than doubled in a year from R4.2 bn in 2 005 to R9.3 bn, according to a spokesperson The Chamber believes that South Africa will soon challenge Nigeria’s traditional trading partners such as the United States, Britain and other European partners in terms of overall trade.