Trip to Nigeria

At the end of April I spent five days in Nigeria as chair of the all party parliamentary group. I visited Lagos in the south west, Abuja the capital and Minna in Niger state in the north.

Nigeria's economy is growing at around seven per cent a year and there is a commitment between the UK and Nigeria to double bi-lateral trade between our two countries by 2014. In Lagos, in the south west, we saw plans for major investment in the city including a new light rail system.

The economy is very imbalanced with 97 per cent of imports coming into the country via Lagos. In northern Nigeria there is a great need for agricultural growth. Nigeria imports many crops and there are governors keen to develop agriculture.

Education is a key issue across the country. I visited a UK supported project to train more women teachers and get more girls into school. I then visited a remote village school where parents have been encouraged to take control and ensure that children attend. One mother of four was being educated herself for the first time and hungry for her children to get the opportunities she had not had. Children study from age three in Nigeria.

In Niger State I met a gay rights activist to discuss what the challenges are. It is a criminal offence to be gay in Nigeria but there is a strong support network that exists on the ground.

We also discussed the current security situation and were only a few miles away from the This Day national newspaper office when it was bombed. My website will carry further articles. Our report will be published in a couple of months.